This Means War
by Id65
Summary: Percy didn't want to have to save the world a third time, (and not even his world) but of course what do the gods care? This time, it's Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Jason, Piper, Thalia, Nico, and Lou shipped off to Britain to boarding school, with a war brewing on the horizon. But not just any boarding school. Hogwarts. With one mission, protect Harry Potter. But dark days are ahead...
1. Piper: Welcome to London

Hi readers! Quick A/N here. I'm following with fair accuracy to OotP, but not really to BoO. Some things, yes, but it just gets too mucky if I'm all for it. No Frazel in this story, but they do appear from time to time.

Ages-

Fifth years

Thalia and Lou, fifteen.

Leo, Jason and Piper, sixteen.

Percy and Annabeth. Seventeen, but lie about their age and say sixteen

Fourth year

Nico, fourteen.

* * *

**Piper, Chapter One. Welcome to London.**

"No way in Hades!" Percy was half yelling at this point. We had been sitting here for the past half hour, all fighting. Whether against Chiron, or amongst each other. Annabeth and I were the only ones who were actually being even quiet, apart from Thalia, but she was all for the idea, having already been briefed by Artemis about this.

Shipping us to Britain? For a year? Chiron hadn't even truly explained why.

"QUIET!" Chiron commanded, and suddenly the overly loud sitting room in the big house fell silent.

"It will be relatively safe at Hogwarts," Chiron began, and I could feel Leo shaking with silent laughter from beside me. Every time somebody mentioned that name he cracked up like no other. "The government there is doing nothing to help, and the Headmaster, who is an old friend of mine, asked for our help. They are fighting a war, but most of them refuse to realize it,"

"I took it to the Olympians, and they constructed the team set to go, apparently all of you have a certain use. Now, I know the war with Gaea ended only recently, and you all are quite ready to relax I'm sure, but think about it. Spending your time in the countryside, with monsters unable to attack, safe from the world. You'll be called on very little, if at all,"

Chiron paused, gauging our reactions, seeming surprised we were all listening so intently, and continued. "It's more of a safety measure than anything, to keep the Chosen one, the main child in a prophecy that could instigate the defeat Voldemort..."

Leo erupted into silent giggles again, making me elbow him hard in the side as I lost track of where Chiron was.

"Lou will provide you with all of the knowledge you need. She has of course, met with more than a few wizards and witches in her time," Chiron gestured to Lou, who gave a small wave from where she sat, before adding onto Chiron's statement. "I even attended their World Cup last year. Let me tell you, they do need help," the child of Hecate's hardset purple eyes latched onto me, boring into my skull. It unnerved me, how she could do that. At the beginning of this meeting, her eyes were brown.

I could feel Annabeth's gray eyes boring into me as my eyes scanned the room at a leisurely pace. I finally locked eyes with her, and we had a silent conversation as talking broke out amongst the group again. _'What's your take?'_ I shrugged in response. It sounded good, better then the school my dad had somehow talked me into attending, this Clarion Ladies Academy. I nodded.

"I'll go," Annabeth said immediately. Percy whispered something in her ear, and she turned to talk to him. I couldn't catch what they were saying, but it seemed like an argument.

"What do you think Pipes?" Jason asked, squeezing my hand. I glanced up at him, his blond hair just falling above his eyes. He looked cuter with longer hair.

"I'm all for it," Jason nodded and then announced "Piper and I will go,"

Thalia muttered something like "Finally," as she crossed her arms.

That made Thalia, Annabeth, Jason, Me, and soon to be Lou and Percy. Jason would get Nico to come, Jason had already turned to whisper to the dark haired boy. What about Leo though?

I turned to Leo, who sat beside me fiddling with some plastic wrap and paper clips. From what I could see resting on his lap, he was making a small, clear house. "What about it Repair Boy? Want to go burn down London?"

Leo glanced up at me. "Haha. Nice one Beauty Queen. But sure, why the heck not? Plus I have a whole school to tell all my jokes on," Leo grinned. I had a feeling that if his relationship with Calypso had worked out, he would be singing a different tune. The two of them had dated for two months before breaking it off. Calypso was now out globetrotting, seeing and experiencing all that she had missed.

I knew that all of New York, all of Camp Half Blood must be a living reminder of their relationship. Since the war with Gaea ended a few months ago, my powers had been growing stronger. If I worked at it long enough, I could make her nose look a little longer, my skin a little darker, my eyes a certain color. Nothing very drastic though, and it was even harder to get myself back to normal.

I could also sense things. I thought of that as more of a curse than anything though. I could feel when Annabeth was planning a surprise birthday for me, or when somebody posted embarrassing photos of me around camp (three guesses as to who,) and my half siblings tried to hide it from me to save my feelings. Things like that.

Jason's unnaturally tight squeeze around my hand brought me back to the present, where Chiron was looking at me expectantly. "Sorry, I sort of drifted," I apologized.

"Would your father mind if you pulled out of the school you were planning to attend this school year?" He asked.

I shook my head. "And if he does dislike it, well then too bad for him. I'm going."

* * *

"Lucky!" Sierra exclaimed for the millionth time since finding out I was leaving last night. I sighed as I packed clothes into the trunk Chiron had provided for me. It was rather small, and mint green, proclaiming in curly letters _**Piper M.**_ that almost looked like my handwriting.

It seemed larger on the inside, but not by a noticeable bit. I had stacked all the heavy things on the bottom, and was currently packing the top layers of my clothes. We were going to leave as soon as I was packed – I had been so tired last night I had completely forgotten to get all my things together and we could possibly be late if I took much longer.

"Here! All of my cutest clothes!" Alison panted, stuffing into my trunk a bunch of folded clothes and bags zip locked with shoes in them. I then squished my bedding in, and latched the trunk shut. With a nod of thanks to Alison, I grabbed my already packed up backpack, slinging it onto my shoulders and picked up my trunk in both hands with a 'hunf' and headed towards the door.

"Piper! Your dagger?" I turned around as fast as I could, and my dagger sheath hung out from Alison's hand. With a smile I grabbed it and headed out the door. "Alison, you're in charge. See you all next summer!" And with that, the door closed behind me with a snap as I stepped out onto the path. I ran as fast as I could towards the Big House.

It was still early – as to why my siblings had arose to watch me pack was beyond me, and it was rather cold, as it is in late summer mornings. Dew squelched under my flip flops, and by the time I reached the parking lot my feet were drenched in the stuff.

Leo was leaning against the van, tapping his fingers as he watched Thalia and Percy bicker. Jason and Nico were talking, and Lou was already in the car. I didn't even know where Annabeth was, actually.

"Thalia! Percy! Stop fighting, we're leaving," I ordered, mixing charm speak into my voice.

"But I'm right!" Percy complained, making Thalia's hair spark as she let off a low growl.

"It doesn't matter if you're right. Hype yourself up, in half an hour we'll be 40,000 feet in the air," my statement made Thalia pale as well as Percy, which I considered a good effect on the two. Jason opened the door to the van for me, and I handed him my trunk. He stowed it under the seats, and then I took a seat beside him in the front row.

Annabeth appeared from the direction of camp, holding a cooler and some sort of hiking backpack.

"Sorry I was late. Ready to go?" She asked. Nico hopped in the front as Annabeth clambered over me to sit beside Percy. Thalia, rather disgruntled as her cousin was sitting in the row behind her, constantly flicking her in the ear, moved up and sat beside Jason. Leo was the last to climb in the van, taking a seat next to Lou.

I jumped a little as Argus pulled the van out of the driveway in reverse, I hadn't even noticed he was in the car. "Leo, what are you doing?" I heard Lou ask from behind me, in a rather bemused tone. I turned around, not even bothering to buckle my seatbelt to see that the walls Leo had been building earlier had turned into so much more. A tiny apartment complex now sat on Leo's lap. His hands furiously worked with a small item he was holding. A doll?

"I'm building a city. I am supreme ruler of everything already anyways," Leo pointed out. Lou just rolled her eyes.

"Say, can you make this little person alive? I can't figure out the mechanisms," Leo held out the small doll, and from what I could see it looked a lot like Leo.

"On the plane," she muttered, making him grin.

* * *

The next eight hours where utter hell. Zeus had allowed Percy and Nico to fly, and he didn't take us down, mainly because of so many powerful demigods causes pissed off gods and goddesses, but he didn't make it fun. Every ten minutes or so, a huge jolt shook the plane. They eventually subsided, but not before Leo had to remake his little buildings about twenty times. That, and put eight ADHD demigods on a jet and what do you get? Well, I'm sure you've figured it out.

Once the time difference kicked in though, it quieted down, and by the time we got out of the airport we were wiped. Thalia even made a rather clever jab at Percy, and he was just too tired to respond.

"So what are we looking for?" I asked Annabeth with a yawn.

"Sign for Percy Jackson," she replied, yawning herself, which started a chain reaction. Leo was the one who spotted it, being held by a woman with long black hair, so black it was blue. When we got closer to her, I realized it _was_ blue.

"Percy?" She asked Leo casually. He cracked up. "Lady, if I was Percy-" he then dissolved into a fit of laughter, and it made the rest of us chuckle.

"I'm Percy." Percy said, giving a small wave.

"Right, well I'm Tonks. There's a car waiting outside, let's go. We can introduce ourselves later. Welcome to London," Tonks motioned with her head, and we followed her out of the airport to where a large black SUV sat idling. I glanced at Annabeth, wondering how we were all going to fit in that thing, but she just shrugged and climbed in. I was second to last to get in, Leo being behind me. He whistled as he slammed the door shut behind him. The car had been elongated, with three rows of four seats each, as well as three seats in the front.

Tonks loaded the last of the trunks into the back and slammed the door shut, climbing into the front seat. The man driving turned the car into gear, not bothering to turn around to look at us. The man sitting in the middle turned around to see us. He didn't look so hot in all honesty, his hair was graying, his eyes a tad dull, and his skin sickish. He couldn't have been a day over 35 though.

"I'm Remus. Pleasure to meet you all," Remus said with a smile. Leo nodded, as if he hadn't even registered what Remus was saying – which was completely possible with him. "So what did you use to get the car so big? Anti engine? Kelvor? Also what did you put on the outside of-" Leo cut himself off as Percy sent a glare his way.

"I'm Percy Jackson. Nice to meet you," he said, in a rather polite tone. I didn't even know Percy could be polite. Annabeth must have muttered something along the same line, as Percy's cheeks turned a bit pink.

I leaned against Jason's shoulder, and before I could even introduce myself I conked out.

* * *

Jason shook me awake what seemed like a moment later. The car had pulled to a stop. "We're here," he whispered to me. I felt disoriented, but followed him out of the car into the balmy night air. It felt like three in the afternoon, but it looked like a summer night. I sighed as I was handed my trunk, and stood next to Jason. A moment later, a house grinded into existence in front of us after a slip of paper was handed around. I didn't question it, I had seen stranger things in all honesty.

I followed Tonks and Remus inside, the other man and his SUV now being gone. I wondered if he was just a driver or something, but even that didn't make much sense.

The passageway was dimly lit and rather depressing, but it led off into a large yet warm kitchen. "Your bags will be in your room." Tonks said, and with a dismissive wave of a wand our trunks went flying from our hands. I would have ogled at the thing in her hands if Lou hadn't already been playing with hers the whole flight over, making things levitate and such.

"Please, have a seat. The others will be down momentarily" She motioned to the table, and we took seats around it. Thalia seemed rather energetic after the flight, so of course as soon as Tonks left the room she began to pester Percy.

"Air disasters are better then seaaaaa disasters," She sung. Percy didn't even look up as she danced around the room, he just grabbed Annabeth's dagger and flung it at her head. She ducked, naturally, and it went flying towards the door. Just then it opened to reveal a rather petite redheaded girl a few years younger than us. It missed her by an inch, embedding in the door frame. She yelped, as did Annabeth.

"Percy! My new dagger?" She complained as she jumped up from the table and wrenched the dagger out of the wood, studying first the hole and then her dagger.

"S-s-sorry," the girl stuttered, looking scared.

"It's okay. It's not your fault," Annabeth smiled at the girl and leaned down to whisper something in her ear.

She smiled at Annabeth and a quick scolding female voice of "Ginny!" caused her to back out of the kitchen. A group of redheaded people filed in, the small girl not amongst them. After that, the kitchen begin to fill up with people. The teens of the group, two older red headed boys and three kids about our age, a brunette girl with thick hair, another redhead, and a boy who looked startlingly similar to Percy. Less tanned, skinnier, and with green eyes though instead of Percy's blue ones.

Leo muttered something in Spanish, which Annabeth laughed at. "Well, you're a rather strange bunch," a man with long black hair remarked as he leaned back in a chair, studying us.

"Sirius!" A rather short, stout woman scolded him, the same voice that had called Ginny earlier. Her red hair was tied back in a ponytail, but escaped in little frizzes here and there. "We should all introduce ourselves, no?" and they went around the room, jumping from person to person. I learned the twins were named Fred and George, though I was unsure as to which was which, and the others named Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Mrs. Weasley glanced at us expectantly from the stove, where she was making hot cocoa. Everybody was now seated, and waiting for us to introduce ourselves.

"Who's first?" Lou asked in a bored voice, twirling her wand in her fingers.

"Let's go by cabin." Thalia suggested, and we all nodded in agreement.

"My name is Jason Grace, I'm a son of Ju-Zeus" Jason didn't summon lightning, but he did levitate a few feet off of the ground. If the wizards weren't ogling before, they certainly were now.

"Are we really showing powers? We'll be here all night," Nico pointed out with a yawn, but was silenced from a glare via Thalia.

"I'm Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of Artemis," the room rumbled in anticipation, hair standing on end (Hermiones quite literally,) and the smell of heavy ozone in the room. There was a flash, and a bang, and the smell of burning metal. The panes in a dirty window at the back of the room blew out, glass showering everywhere. Lou repaired it with a wave of her wand. *

"I'm Percy, Son of Poseidon," Percy stood up as Thalia sat down, and the taps in the sink turned on by themselves, the water flowing out towards Percy. It surrounded him, until he was literally encased in the stuff, in practically a walled box of water. He sat floating inside of it, apparently content to stay like that.

"Isn't he going to drown?" Remus asked with a frown. The water flew towards the sink, going down the drain at top speeds until Percy was there again, dry and unharmed. "I can breathe underwater," he explained.

Annabeth stood up next. "I'm Annabeth, Daughter of Athena," after that she just stood there for a moment. I could feel the disappointment radiating off of the twin boys.

"So do you have any powers?" The one closest to me asked Annabeth. She glared at him, and her dagger came out of her sheath. He was sitting on the chair backwards, his arms leaning over the sides casually. Her dagger went flying, and embedded itself into the wood, an inch from his hand.

"Bloody hell!" He exclaimed, jumping up. I wasn't sure if they took her accuracy as a power, or as a sign to sit down and shut up. I pulled the dagger out of the wood, and tossed it back to Annabeth, who caught it easily. "Might as well since it's already ruined," she muttered ruefully, glaring at her boyfriend.

Leo stood up next, smiling. Mrs. Weasley first set down mugs of cocoa for everyone. "I'm Leo Valdez, Bad boy supreme, Awesome commander of the Argo II-" I cut him off there. "Repair boy..." I said in a warning tone. He held up his hands in defense. "Alright alright! I'm Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus. And, Lou could you belt out some Fall out Boy for me?" Leo asked. Lou rolled her eyes but jumped in on the chorus after staring at Leo like he was a mad man for twenty seconds. Her eyes were blue now.

"My songs know what you did in the daaaaaaaark... So light em up up up light em up up up light em up up up I'm on fireeeee!" And Leo burst into flame. The wizards yelp, and Ron throws a glass of water on him, but it only fizzes for a moment. Leo extinguishes himself a moment later, finding his Camp Half Blood tee shirt in tatters around his mid riff. "Ah well. Crop tops are in fashion, right Pipes?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes in response. He sat down and began to sip his cocoa. I stood up. "I'm Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite," this instantly peaked the three Weasley boy's attention, and Harry looked up, now interested. "And for my power, I need a volunteer," the second Weasley twin was the first to jump up. "Okay then. What's your name?" I asked with a smile.

"Fred..." He trailed off, uncertain of where I was going. "Okay Fred. Now, I want you to give me your wand and then go tell your little brother he's the prettiest human being you've ever seen," I poured my charm speak into the words, and caused Thalia to say "Jason you're the-" before she snapped out of it. Fred handed me his wand, which I took as wizards did not give to strangers lightly, and went over to Ron, showering him with compliments.

"Okay, that's enough," I said. Fred snapped out of it, and then glared at me. I just smiled, and he stopped. I leaned my head into the crook of Jason's neck, content and happy.

"I suppose I'm next," Nico said. He had been quiet for most of the meeting so far, staying silent on the far end of the table. "I'm Nico Di Angelo, Son of Hades."

He held out a hand and closed his eyes. The room was dead silent. And then, there was a scream from upstairs. Ginny, who we met earlier, came barreling into the room and promptly jumped into her mothers arms. An army of small skeletons marched into the room. Nico moved his fingers around lazily, making them square dance, do the tango. And then, they all climbed towards the window, somehow opening it and crawling out, a steady stream of bone animals.

"Curious as to why you had so many bones here," he remarked quietly.

That left Lou, who everybody turned to. She had been barely paying attention this whole time, flipping through a magazine she had pulled out of nowhere. "Hmm? Oh is it my turn? I'm Lou Ellen. Hello," she waved her fingers lightly and turned her attention back to her magazine, adjusting the beanie hiding half of her hair.

"Who's your godly parent then?" Ron asked, rather rude about it.

"Hecate," she flipped a page, studying it carelessly.

"Hecate?" Hermione asked with a frown, not recognizing the name.

"I'm a bit like you guys, but better. My mom blessed the first of you wizards, and continues to do so. I'm her daughter," she shrugged, apparently not wanting to put on a show.

"I have so many questions for you." Mr. Weasley said eagerly.

"Now now, they're practically passing out! Why don't we do all of that tomorrow, and all of you get upstairs," it was supposed to be a question, but it was phrased as an order, one which we demigods where more than happy to carry out. After I gave Jason a quick kiss goodnight, Annabeth, Lou, Thalia, and I followed Hermione up the stairs, Ginny trailing behind us, where extra beds had already been set up in their bedroom, preparing for our arrival.

The trunks followed us, apparently charmed to do so. I just collapsed onto an empty bed and passed out.

* * *

*I know, the Kitchen is in a basement, but the kind of basement's I've been in have survival windows at least.

**A/N:** Okay! First chapter! I have about 16,000 words written so I was like, hey post it you dolt! I'm sorry if I missed any typos or such, it's a long chapter. Again, I'll alert you when I change up the story a bit.

If you wouldn't mind, a review would be great :D


	2. Leo: Wayfaring Stranger

**Leo, Chapter Two. Wayfaring Stranger.**

To be honest, I was completely fine with this whole 'Wizarding' thing. Wands? Brooms? And from what I had heard, the best pranking supplies and candy out there? Sign me up! Wizarding school? Nah, it wasn't great, but I could deal with school. Plus the fact for once I wasn't the odd one out! Lou was also an outsider, she kept more to herself than anything, mainly because she was, well the odd girl out.

I had spent more then enough time at counselors meetings sitting next to her and her best friend, Miranda Gardener, to know that she could actually be quite a cheery person. Plus, she was hot.

Dark brown, almost black hair fell past her shoulders, and about four inches of her hair was bright purple. It didn't look tacky though. Paired with her pale skin, dark green eyes, and usually pissed off expression she was way out of my league. Just the way I liked it.

I ended up volunteering to share a room with twins, along with Nico. Something I regretted when I woke up to find the two rifling through my stuff.

"What is this?" The one on the left muttered, pulling out my tool belt.

"Don't touch that!" I yelped, scrambling out of my bed and snatching it from him. I latched it around my waist. It must have looked hilarious, a teenager in pajamas with a tool belt stuck around his waist, because the two boys began to laugh.

"Breath mint?" I asked, pulling out a package and popping one. At times I had just lived off of those things, and water I pulled out of my tool belt as well. I glanced around for Nico, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"So Leo, tell us. Are you as into pranking as you led on last night?" The one on the left said, sitting down on the bed across from mine. Okay, one has a blue shirt and the other a black one. As soon as I learn their names I'll be able to tell them apart.

"Of course I am George!" I scoffed. "There are these two brothers at my camp, the Stolls, they could probably make you run screaming."

George frowned. "No they couldn't. And how did you know I was George?"

I grabbed some more plastic wrap and wire from my belt and shrugged. "Just guessed,"

Fred threw back his head and laughed. "I think we're going to like you, isn't that right George?"

"Quite so Fred," and with that, the two boys disappeared with a CRACK.

I grinned, and then made my way out onto the landing and downstairs for breakfast. Apparently I was a late riser, because the other demigods were already downstairs eating breakfast. Mr. Weasley was animatedly interrogating Annabeth and Jason, from what I could hear about how elevators worked in the muggle world. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were cooking food, while everybody else was broken off into smaller conversations. I took a seat between Nico and Jason. "We're going to the Wizarding mall today to pick up stuff," Jason informed me. He looked pretty relieved to see me, and it was evident as to why when I overheard Nico and Mad Eye Moody fighting, a nasty combination. I quickly turned to Jason to make conversation.

"So, clocks. They're cool," Jason gave me a weird look and shrugged. "Um, yeah I guess," he replied, and I wanted to bang my head into the table repeatedly.

Moody had stalked off, apparently he had a mission or something, so Nico's head fell onto the table and he closed his eyes. "It's too sunny out. I wish the sun would just go away," he moaned. "A day without sunshine is like, you know night," I remarked, piling a stack of pancakes onto my plate.

Lou snickered into her food from across the table, causing Nico to lift up his head, open his eyes, and glare at her. She stared right back, until Annabeth bumped into her making her look away.

"So, what kind of school supplies are these anyways?" Jason asked, scanning down the list in his hand.

"Well you can see here, robes, cauldrons, wands, ingredients, everything to get you through the school year." Hermione said, tapping Jason's list as she went along.

"Well I can barely read this, and good luck getting Leo to focus on anything for two seconds," Jason scoffed. I took the comment in stride by ignoring the heck out of Jason.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, cocking her head.

"All of us have Dyslexia, and we all have ADD or ADHD. Leo is..." Jason trailed off, not wanting to put me in too bad of a light. Boo.

"I am just about the most ADHD person you'll meet _chica_. Some shrink may have written the book, but he wrote it about me," I leaned back in my chair, arms behind my head in an effort to look cool. I only succeeded in falling backwards and tumbling onto the ground, learning laughter from the other demigods, and a small snort from Lou.

The rest of the conversation I stayed mainly out of it, only giving a quirky comment here in there, my hands taking over, making a fleet of helicopters and sending them flying around the room, getting better and better with each one I made.

* * *

By the time I was waiting by the door, dressed and ready to go, the hum of tiny blades could be heard throughout the house. Sirius descended the stairs, holding one of my earlier contraptions of pipe cleaners and rubber bands.

"Interesting," he remarked, sitting down beside me. It was half crushed in his hand. "You know, I dated a girl once who was so infatuated with helicopters. She drew out schematics, had books upon books about them, and made little helicopters, much like these." I finished my latest helicopter, which mainly consisted of aluminum foil and paper clips. I placed it in his palm and gave a single whorl to the blades. It took off flying, joining the others which self propelled themselves until they crashed.

"What happened? To her, I mean," I asked rather rudely.

Sirius smiled. "She moved back to America, a few years back. Haven't seen her since. She was rather pretty, she had dark hair, and grey eyes like your friend Annabeth." *

I was going to reply, questioning more about her when a wild group of demigods appeared, led by a bickering Thalia and Percy. Mrs. Weasley, who was ushering the dozen children into the hallway, seemed rather put off by the fact Thalia was currently threatening to make Percy eat so much voltage his fingernails would turn black and fall off. I glanced over at Sirius, I expected him to be the same way but he was instead smiling at the image.

He chuckled as Remus rounded up the back of the group. "Do those two remind you of anyone Remus?" Sirius asked, cocking his head towards the two bickering teens. Remus laughed. "Quite so. Though the threats are indeed somewhat escalated."

"Please. This is them in playful mode. Get them started on _anything_ water vs. air and they just go loco. I still have a scar from the last time they dueled..." I held the inside of my wrist out, where a long, three month old burn mark resided. It wasn't just a burn mark though, (I don't burn obviously,) it was a burn mark from lightning. Nectar and Ambrosia had done a lot for it, or I would look as if there was a bunch of red roots all over my wrist, but the faint brown, barely showing against my skin showed up inside my wrist, webbing across it. It looked even nastier in the dark lighting. Remus winced.

"Oi, Repair boy, suit up!" Lou hollered to me over a wall of redheads.

"Find your own nickname Magic Lou!" I called back. I checked my pockets, and that my tool belt was well enough hidden under my coat, though admittedly the fact that I was wearing a tool belt probably wouldn't show up much in a shopping mall full of wizards.

When we got outside, the house disappeared again as we walked down the street. "What's the name of that place anyways?" I asked, my hands stuffed into my pockets to keep me from fiddling with anything. It wasn't working to well though, because my hands were practically itching.

"You read the paper last night, didn't you?" Harry asked, a bit dumbfounded, seeing as I had apparently read the name last night.

"Um, I was handed a paper with a bunch of letters. Unless that house is Bermnu 21 Dlirgammu Lapce is the name of that house, which is a weird ass name, no I didn't catch it. Should've Written it in Greek."

Harry glanced from demigod to demigod, silently asking if this was true. All of us shrugged, except for Jason who said "I could read it. Weird name," he muttered. I assumed, like everything in this world, the name would probably make me crack up like no other. Hogwarts? Voldemort? And if I heard correctly last night from Fred and George's conversation (they had been talking rather loudly, I hadn't _meant_ to eavesdrop,) Quidditch? Slytherin? Gryffindor? These names were all so stupid, though damn those Slitherin' Slytherin's!

I laughed. "I'll have to use that sometime," I muttered. "What was that Leo?" Piper asked from next to me. I blinked, looking up. We seemed to have jumped at least a few blocks, as we were now on a busy road. It must have looked odd, several adults herding a group of teenagers down a busy street, but how did we even end up here? "Oh nothing. Just talking to myself."

Piper quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

* * *

It turned out the house wasn't to far from Diagon Alley, and I quickly discovered Diagon Alley was in fact, not a shopping mall. More like a pedestrian street filled with shops. The thought of money had also not occurred to me, but somebody had thought ahead, wiring a large sum of money to the Weasley's to take care of all of our things. And boy, did we need a lot of things. I didn't quite grasp the wizarding currency system, but really just about anywhere, large golden coins mean lots of money.

"Will you stand still!" The robe lady scolded me, as she pricked me with a needle yet again. "Lady, I would be standing still if you didn't keep on trying to murder me with that thing!" I complained, rubbing my arm which now ached. Robe lady shot me a look to rival a sassy Piper, and when a bell rang at the front of the shop she stalked off, letting her tape measure map me out as she went to deal with the customer. **

I couldn't believe wizards actually considered these stupid robes normal. Apart from the giant pockets, there wasn't much to them. I would definitely spend most of my time tripping over the hem, and these sleeves would get caught on _everything_. At least they hid my tool belt.

Robe lady came back, leading a pale boy about my age.

"Hey Lady, can you hem these up enough so I don't trip on them? I run a lot, so tripping is like, a thing," Robe lady looked just fed up with me. She set her tape measure onto the other boy as she knelt down to fix the hem of my robes.

"Exchange student?" The boy beside me asked. I glanced at him, rather warily. I was a little bit paranoid of every wizard here really. I knew next to nothing about anything wizarding, and if I got into a conversation I couldn't just claim I was muggle born, since even a muggle born my age would know enough by now to not look like a stupid idiot.***

"Yeah. Did my ever so slight accent give me away?" I asked. He nodded. "And the fact you don't seem to understand robe etiquette. Are you a pureblood?" The boy cocked his head, studying me. What does that mean?

"Half blood," I said, already forming a story in my head. I was raised by my muggle mother until she died in an accident, and I bounced around foster homes. Well, it was the truth, kind of. "Why does it even matter?" I asked, actually curious. None of the wizards I had met so far had made a big deal out of the blood stuff or whatever.

"Just curious. What's your surname?" It officially felt like an interrogation. I needed some help.

"Why would that matter?" I prayed to every god I could think of to get me out of here or at least – oh Robe lady, come to my rescue. "Ow!" I exclaimed, mainly to not have to talk to pale blond and curious next to me, who was currently lecturing me about surnames or something.

"Almost done," She muttered, and then stepped to the side, letting me look in the mirror. "Now how does that look?" Robe lady asked.

I nodded, assuming it was how robes were supposed to look. Although, if it wasn't I'm sure Hermione or Annabeth could figure out a spell to fix them. "Looks good."

"Thank god," Robe lady muttered under her breath. "I'll bring out more pairs in this size in just a moment," with that, Robe lady disappeared, leaving me with white boy.

"So, what house do you think you'll end up in?" The guy next to me asked, obviously trying to make conversation for some self deluded reason.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Unless there's a magical fifth house for overly awesome people, I don't think I'll fit." In fact, I doubted I would fit in at all. Normal teachers already hated me, but magical teachers? Oh brother.

He laughed. "I don't think I introduced myself. Draco Malfoy," Draco stuck out his hand. Is everybody here named something weird? I shook it. "Leo Valdez." Draco studied me.

"I don't recognize that surname," he stated. Oh wow, that was smooth. I wouldn't tell you my surname, so you tricked it out of me.

"It's a muggle surname," I stated in a short tone.

"Say what-" Draco never finished his question. The bell rang, and Piper appeared. "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you. They're fighting _again_."

I hopped down, glad to have an excuse not to talk to him. "Well hi there Beauty Queen. Perfect timing. I am donezo with this shop. Let's get some candy!"

Piper opened her mouth, probably to lecture me about the fact me and sugar did not mix well, but was interrupted, well more like cut off by one Draco Malfoy.

"Draco Malfoy," Draco held out his hand, and Piper offered her to shake but instead he kissed it – weirdo, and smiled, doing a half bow. "Piper McLean," Draco looked, yet again confused. "Half blood?" He asked with a smile. Now, one way to get Piper offended? Have a non Greek entity call her half blood. She scowled. "No."

It was Draco's turn to scowl. "Pureblood?" I was in serious dislike of this guy now, but luckily Robe lady appeared, holding a stack of five robes for me. "You! Back on the stool, I have a lot of work to do," she ordered, and motioned for me to follow her to the front, Piper all too eager to walk beside me.

I had gathered Piper had already been in here, as Robe lady beamed at her as she rang up my items. It seemed odd a lone woman was running a store, but no matter. Robe lady bagged up my things, and we left.

"God, that guy was so creepy," Piper remarked with a shiver. "Tell me about it. He was grilling me before you arrived." I remarked.

"What guy?" Harry asked, appearing to our left with a bag full of something, which suspiciously smelled like brownies and peanut butter.

"This dude in the robes shop, Draco Malfoy. By your scowl I take it you know him?" I asked. Harry was indeed scowling, deeply so. He obviously had a deep rooted dislike for him. "He's a – well, I won't say it here. I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get all of you wands."

"Would wands even work for us?" I asked Piper out of the corner of my mouth. Piper shrugged like 'I'm not Annabeth' and we just followed Harry. We ended up at a dusty old shop tucked at the end of Diagon Alley.

On that name, just for a moment. Other then it sounding like Diagonally, it is neither Diagon, or an Alley. What's the point of that name, hmm?

Inside, Lou sat looking rather bored, twirling her wand around as some old guy frowned at Percy. "You seem to be quite problematic child."

Percy shrugged. "I'm always told that," Lou muttered "I bet you are," under her breath as the guy disappeared into the back of the shop.

"Who's that?" I asked Percy, leaning up against the wall. "Mr. Olivander. Wand guy. Where's everybody else?" Percy's brow knit together.

Piper shrugged. "They'll be here soon. We agreed to meet here at 2 o'clock so..." Was it 2 PM already? Usually time only moves too fast when I'm thinking, or having fun. Running through a list of things in my mind, I had done a lot today. And I had had a bit of sugar as well. Okay, more than a bit.

The bell rung again, and in entered Annabeth and Thalia laden with shopping bags. Harry passed around the bag he had been carrying, which was full of peanut butter fudge brownies. Yum.

Mr. Ollivander appeared with a set of new boxes, handing one after the other to Percy, each to no effect. Mr. Ollivander seemed rather happy about this, in all truthfulness as if most of his customers where easy.

"Did you try Beech, or Palmetto wood?" Annabeth asked him, as if this was a sane question. Mr. Ollivander studied her. "I don't carry Palmetto wands, but Beech, I think I have a few in stock..." and with that he disappeared into the shelves again.

Everybody glanced at Annabeth, and she shrugged. "They're both plants tied to the coast line." and suddenly what she was saying made sense.

"Beech, twelve and a half inches, Kelpie hair." Ollivander said, handing the wand to Percy. He took it, and glow seemed to surround him. He gave it a quick wave and a large amount of salt water spurted out of the end, dumping water all over Thalia and splashing the rest of us.

"KELP HEAD!" She yelled, looking murderous. Percy looked bashful, like a puppy who knew he shouldn't have eaten that shoe, which made me burst out laughing. "Yep. That's Percy's wand," Annabeth said, and Mr. Ollivander looked rather taken aback, but rang up his wand.

"Now, the rest of us also need wands," Annabeth said. "It seems you have your work cut out for you."

* * *

As to be expected, we spent the next three hours getting wands. I was, unfortunately charged with writing out a list of the wands for Annabeth.

_**Percy: Beech and Kelpie hair**_

_**Annabeth: Olive and Phoenix Feather. (Apparently Owl's aren't very magical.)**_

_**Thalia: Pine and Eagle Feather :) Lol!**_

_**Nico: Cypress and Thestral tail hair. So dark and serious!**_

_**Piper: Apple and Fairy Wing. Weird combo.**_

_**Supreme ruler of everything awesome: Flame proof (duh) Ironwood and Griffin feather. (I wanted Eucalyptus but nooo Annabeth says that attracts monsters. Or Osage Orange because they're dragon tamers but hey the wand is a picky two year old apparently.)**_

_**Jason: A light Aromatic Red Cedar with Ashwinder Ash. Quite the elitist, aren't we?**_

_**Lou: Silver lime and Dragon scale. I'm so fancy, u already know :D**_

_**Now I'm going to draw a cat. Will Annabeth even be able to read this?**_

"Leo!" I looked up from my doodling of a cat as Annabeth stood over me, looking severe. "Time to go, come on," I stood up quickly handing her the pad of paper. I stuck my wand into my tool belt and ran after Nico, following him out the door. "Weird," he muttered, twisting his wand in his hands.

"Nutty Knut for your thoughts?" I asked. Nico glanced at me as if I was a weirdo, which I kind of am, and shrugged.

"Just thinking." He said shortly, and I shrugged. Our conversation ended there, and I moved on to Percy.

"So what is our plan even? I mean, we don't even know that much about the place we're going." I pointed out. It was true, we knew next to nothing about Hogwarts.

Percy shrugged. "We'll figure it out. We can ask Harry and the others when we get back to the house."

I didn't like this. Usually I'm fine going all commando but we were entering a large school full of wizards. Many who would either lock us up or burn us at the stake if they found out what we where. I had seen what the others had missed last night. Hermione had looked at us as if we where organisms on a – damn, what's the word? Oh right – petri dish. To be studied. Ron, well he just looked as if he was afraid of us. And a large group of people who are afraid doesn't end well. I made a mental note not to tell anybody at the school about my resistance to fire as we set out into the mortal world.

* * *

* I write Sirius in British grammar. And I imagine Sirius with light gray eyes, like an overcast sky, and Annabeth's eyes gray like the underbelly of storm clouds.

** Leo wouldn't actually bother to learn Robe Lady's name. If she did say it, he didn't notice.

*** Annabeth gave a long lecture at the breakfast table about the differences between muggle born, pureblood, and half blood.

**A/N:** Thanks for all the follows and favorites guys! Shoutouts to AnamariaJovel and IIII Winter Wolf IIII for reviewing! Cookies for all of you! (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)


	3. Annabeth: Hypnotic

**Annabeth, Chapter three. Hypnotic**

* * *

Maybe kidnapping Harry, Ron, and Hermione was not our best plan. Admittedly, it wasn't even my idea, it was Percy's, which just goes to show how flawed it could possibly be. Piper charm spoke them into no longer moving, Lou dropped one Mist Harry, Ron, and Hermione, then Nico shadow traveled us in groups of four. We ended up in an empty house that was apparently for sale out in the country, as I noted from the sign outside the window.

"Bring them out of it." Percy ordered, and Piper snapped the three out of their trance.

Hermione shook her head, disoriented. "Where are we?" She asked, obviously confused.

"Dunno. We just needed to talk to you three in private. The walls of that house aren't safe." Nico said grimly. That much was true. Leo had apparently found a stash of listening devices when he was changing this morning, and that house already had been giving off bad vibes. I took a wary seat next to Percy.

"Listen. We just need – help. We're usually thrown knee deep into the randomest shit, but this time we're way over our heads. You have to tell us about Hogwarts, and about your culture," I glanced around the room. "We can probably figure out most of the spells ourselves but..." I trailed off.

The three exchanged glasses, and Harry nodded. "We'll help you, just don't kidnap us again, okay?"

Leo snorted and muttered something like 'no promises' but luckily none of the three caught it.

The next hour and a half was spent getting an intense lesson from the three. Harry was like a Professor, leading the class, with Hermione as a teacher, who knew pretty much everything, and Ron as their assistant.

In fact, Ron didn't do much of anything until it came to wizarding pop culture. Now, apart from Lou Ellen and Nico, (Thalia claimed to know enough from a witch who had joined the hunt a while back, but it would look suspicious if Jason, her older brother was also a pureblood and he didn't know enough about the society,) we were all half bloods or muggle borns, but it would look much too suspicious if we didn't know _anything_ about the pop culture, so Ron filled us in.

We had a week before term started to learn as much as we could. I figured we would spend most of our time learning spells, as well as helping out around the house, and having long talks with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

As the week passed, in between chores we had lessons Hermione and Lou directed. By September first we had done enough learning to pass as perhaps third years.

Hopefully a lot of spells would not be involved in the first few weeks, or truthfully we'd be pretty screwed. As expected, certain people excelled at certain types of magic – Thalia electricity, Jason air, Piper speech craft and glamor spells, Leo fire, Percy water, Nico in transfiguration and anything remotely dark, and I, according to Lou, exceeded in everything.

"Athena is not usually involved directly in magic, but many of her children have innate abilities instead of powers – Magic is usually one of them, and more often than not they get mistaken for Witches and Wizards," Lou explained the morning of September first as she did a quick spell on her hair. Her hair was now a dark bob, a knitted purple beanie adorning her head.

Piper had pointed it out to me, and I had now taken notice in the fact her eyes changed colors. I wasn't sure if it was a spell or what, but it could be a struggle to tell at times.

"Ready to go?" Piper asked as she picked up her trunk. Admittedly, I was secretly jealous of my best friend at times, and this was one of those times. Dressed in high tops, shorts, a beaded tank top and pigtail braids, a bag carelessly slung over her shoulder, I knew she must have taken less than twenty seconds to pick out her outfit, but with any other girl it would have taken her half an hour to make it look just right.

"Yep. I like that top, where did you get it?" I asked, following her outside of our room. We immediately entered a world of pure chaos. Mrs. Weasley could be heard shouting from the basement, Nico was shouting at Leo from below us, and I could hear Thalia and Percy at it again. Ron and Harry where shouting at each other from two different floors looking for a pair of shoes, and a trillion other things were also happening.

With a resigned sigh, I stepped past Piper and took the lead down the stairs. By the time I had reached the bottom, I had tripped over a pair of shoes, two cats (one of them being Lou Ellen's,) and I found a singular fleshy ear dangling from somewhere above. It sounded like the listening devices Leo had described, and it was just near the kitchen door.

As quietly as possible I picked it up and said loudly, directly into it "Shouldn't you be PACKING?" There was a muffled yelp from above and a 'Not funny!' as I dropped the ear, picking up my trunk and pulling it out to the hallway. A rather disgruntled Leo sat waiting for the rest of us, something that had become a common occurrence. How was he always ready faster than everybody else?

"Where's Nico?" I asked, setting my trunk down. Breakfast had been half an hour ago, and we were supposed to be leaving now.

"Sulking," Leo supplied with a nod down the corridor. Piper and Lou set there things down beside the two of us. Thalia and Percy appeared from the staircase, still arguing. Honestly, who in their right minds thought it was a good idea to put them together? Yes, on a quest they could be quite a pair but otherwise . . . . kablooie. Kablooie? Really Annabeth?

Ginny appeared, sporting a rather large bruise on her cheek. Jason was behind her, lugging her sizably larger trunk down the stairs. Ginny was blushing, and I noted her pupils were dilated. Poor kid, having a crush on a guy like Jason would take you nowhere fast.

"Annabeth?" I turned towards the door to see Hazel, somewhere in New Rome at night, and looking completely bewildered by the scene behind me. Admittedly, it was pretty crazy.

"Oh hi Hazel!" I said happily, walking closer. Ginny gave a squeal of surprise, finally noticing Hazel and weaved through the rather cramped passageway.

"Where are you?" She asked, squinting a bit.

"London. We're attending this school with -" there was a loud shout from behind us and the Weasley twins came barreling past everybody, wands pointed as one of them knocked into me. "Who are you?" The one on the left barked.

Hazel just blinked, and then laughed. "Hazel? Did you-" Frank appeared on screen and just stared, then chuckled as well.

"Put your wands away!" I hissed at them, turning my glare up to power ten. The others had stopped bickering, or should I say bickering over Thalia and Percy's bickering, and had taken notice. It must have looked comical to Hazel and Frank, two guys pointing sticks at a video chat.

"It's just a video chat. Hazel, listen I'll call you back in a few hours when we get to school, okay?" I asked her. She nodded, and I waved my hand through the call, canceling it.

I turned, hands on hips to glare at the two twins. At first, they chuckled, but I kept on glaring at them until they backed down. "What. The. Hell." I stated.

"Sorry, Ginny just said there was a strange girl in the hallway and she just appeared and she thought she might be bad." Fred explained. At least I thought it was Fred.

I considered this for a moment. Ginny had freaked, bad Intel. "No fault then, I suppose. But would you really go in guns ablazing?"

"What?" George asked, looking bewildered.

"American phrase," I said hastily, not wanting to take over the rather long procedure of explaining guns.

"Is everybody alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked, appearing from the staircase. "Yeah mum, false alarm." George patted Ginny's head. "Good job George, mucking everything up." George said jokingly – well, Fred said jokingly.

"We were supposed to have Davies and Carter on our guard, but we've been waiting half an hour we can't wait much longer. Five minutes and we're out the door," Mrs. Weasley barked.

* * *

The next half hour was a haze of activity, and being pushed out the door by Mrs. Weasley. We reached Kings Cross only a few minutes to spare. Hermione and Tonks had briefed us on what to do when we got there as to save time, and we boarded just in time.

Hermione and Ron went off to do their Prefect duties, and with Harry and Ginny we set out to find a compartment. We ended up in a rather large compartment, which was empty except for a single girl Ginny said was named Luna Lovegood. She didn't pay any of us much attention, keeping a large pair of headphones on her head and reading a magazine intently.

"So, on the subject of houses. Harry, you said Hufflepuff doesn't really matter?" Jason asked. Ginny hit Harry's arm lightly as he shook his head, "well apart from last year they're not super big or anything, but they're okay I guess. I had like one class with them last year too."

I frowned at this. "Do you always get paired with the same house for classes?" I asked.

Harry shrugged. "Mainly Slytherin, but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sometimes too. The year above us always gets paired with Ravenclaw, and Ginny's year is always with Hufflepuff..." Harry trailed off, shrugging.

"I say one in Slytherin, one in Ravenclaw, one in Hufflepuff, and at least one Gryffindor, and leave the rest to be sorted themselves." I stated, considering the facts. "It'd look suspicious if all of us were in Gryffindor anyways," I added on after a moments thought. Percy nodded in agreement, his hand slipping into mine sneakily. *

"Who want's to bet I'm the one in Hufflepuff?" Leo asked. Everybody laughed, and I stared at him, an idea forming in my mind as London was quickly turning to the countryside outside of my window.

"Percy would definitely be a Hufflepuff," I said, a slow grin etching its way onto my face.

* * *

Several hours later, the eight of us were practically on the floor laughing. Thalia actually was on the floor, wiping tears from her eyes. Ron and Hermione had been in for quite a while, but had left just recently and Harry had gone with them.

This time, a new girl opened the compartment door just as Leo was mid story. "And then Frank is just standing there, shirtless, bow broken in half and all I thought was 'You're a chi-" Leo stopped at the sight of Cho. Thalia quickly regained her breath, climbing back onto the seat.

"Just uh, looking for Harry." I glanced at his seat, which was empty.

"I think he's in the prefect carriage with Ron," Ginny supplied with a shrug. "Thanks," she said quickly, and shut the door as she backed out.

"Right, where was I?" Leo wiped a tear from his eye as he laughed. Harry re-entered the compartment, followed by Hermione and Ron. With a sigh, Hermione crossed her arms and flopped down next to me, Harry and Ron sitting across from her. "Oooh I hate her so much!" Hermione muttered. We all knew, of course 'her' was Pansy Parkinson, who Hermione had already gone on a long rant about.

She opened her mouth – probably to do just so, and the door slid open, revealing a rather pale boy with platinum hair. Piper scowled, and Leo looked rather unhappy about this, but the other, non demigods where all tensing. Two rather bulky boys followed him.

"Oh great, you again," Piper muttered darkly. The boy sneered at her, and scoffed. "Of course you'd be with _Potter_."

"What?" Harry asked, rather aggressively.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled the boy. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments." Ahhhh. Draco Malfoy. That explains Piper's expression. Jason, also putting together who he was, tensed.

"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville laughed.

Draco's lip curled. "Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he asked.

"Will you just shut up Malfoy?" Lou asked. Draco seemed rather shocked to see her here, and frowned, but continued anyways. "Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be _dogging_ your footsteps in case you step out of line."

"Get out!" said Hermione, standing up. Sniggering, Draco gave Harry a last malicious look and departed, his two friends following him. Jason, who was closest, shut the door.

Harry exchanged a nervous look with Hermione and then stared out of the window. He obviously didn't want to talk about – well, whatever in front of us.

The rest of the ride we spent playing card games with a self shuffling deck Leo had bought in Diagon Alley.

"So, here's a question. Hermione mentioned it, but what's up with mortal devices and them going haywire?" Leo asked after a rather long bout of silence.

"They don't go haywire, actually. That used to be the general consensus about twenty years ago, but some rather clever people figured out you just needed to make a few changes to technology to make it work. You're rather lucky, two years ago Hogwarts didn't have electricity. They haven't completely finished installing it, it's painstaking work as every single item needs to be enchanted, but at least the common rooms have been outfitted, and some of the classrooms," Hermione explained, rather sounding like she'd swallowed a book. Thalia elbowed me. "That's how you sound Annie," she said with a joking grin. I glared at her and crossed my arms.

* * *

The conversation continued as the twilight faded into full night. We eventually had to change into our robes, and then when we got off of the train – well, it was pure chaos.

Ron and Hermione disappeared, prefect duties, leaving us with Harry. Ginny took Crookshanks, Hermiones cat, and Luna offered to take Pig, Ron's owl. Lou had her cat tucked in a carrier, and Piper's Owl, as well as Jason's. We got out into the cool night air, the air smelling of pine and petrichor. Following Harry, we made our way to a bunch of carriages.

And let me tell you, it freaked me out. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts; if I had to give them a name, I suppose I would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.

Harry was staring at them as if they were ghosts.

"Where's Pig?" said Ron's voice, right behind Harry. "That Luna girl was carrying him," said Harry, turning quickly, eager to consult Ron about Hagrid. "Where d'you reckon —" "— Hagrid is? I dunno," said Ron, sounding worried. I glanced back at the two, who seemed rather distraught about this Hagrid. "He'd better be okay. . . ."

Seconds later Hermione emerged panting from the crowd. "Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first year back there, I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever. . . . Where's Crookshanks?" "Ginny's got him," said Harry. "There she is. . . ." Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.

"Thanks," said Hermione, relieving Ginny of the cat. "Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up. . . ."

"I haven't got Pig yet!" Ron said, but Hermione was already heading off toward the nearest unoccupied coach. Harry remained behind with Ron. "What are those things, d'you reckon?" Harry asked Ron, nodding at the horrible horses as the other students surged past them. "What things?"

"The horses. Well, if you could call them that," Percy motioned to the nearest carriage, which was about three feet away from them. Nico went up and hugged the horse.

"They're called Thestrals. My dad has herds of them -" Nico jumped back, as if stung, then glanced at Percy nervously. He shrugged with a grin. "They have potty mouths," Percy whispered, just loud enough for Thalia, Nico and I to hear. Ron and Harry had apparently not noticed our conversation, (yeah, and we're ADHD,)

Luna appeared holding Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms; the tiny owl was twittering excitedly as usual. "Here you are," she said. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?" "Er . . . yeah . . . He's all right," said Ron gruffly. "Well, come on then, let's get in. . . . what were you saying, Harry?"

"I was saying, what are those horse things?" Harry said, as he, Ron, and Luna made for the carriage in which Hermione and Ginny were already sitting. "What horse things?" "The horse things pulling the carriages!" said Harry impatiently.

Nico, luckily jumped in to save the day, educating Ron on something even I didn't know about. Apparently our worlds overlapped more than I had originally thought.

We kept quiet for the ride up to the school, mainly listening to the other five bicker, over Hagrid, who was maybe a teacher...?

The first view of Hogwarts castle was... magnificent. Large jet black turrets climbed to the sky, the windows ablaze, light shining out. When the carriage pulled to a stop in front of a pair of large Oak doors, Harry got out first, and we followed.

We were of course, stopped by a Professor. "Mr. Potter!" a few heads turned our way, but nothing dramatic. A tall, rather severe looking woman strode towards us. "You eight are to come with me. The rest of you, on with the feast," Harry and the others departed, leaving us demigods with one scary looking woman.

* * *

**A/N: *** What I didn't understand was how everyone is usually stuck in one house. Now, that doesn't quite make sense does it? Yes, they're all brave, but that's just so bland.

Sorry, this chapter was a little short, only about 3,200 words but that's still a lot longer then most of my updates! xD

Okay. Let's just start with, this mini rant needs to happen. JK published the HP series in 1997. The series itself starts in 1991 and ends in 1997, with a brief flash forward at the epilogue.

Now, first of all, the HP world in this story obviously takes place in the 10's, because hello the PJO characters? Anyways, I find it hard to believe that by 2015 the wizards haven't adapted technology into their lives. It would take them a few years, obviously to adapt but that's like 18 years.

So, mini rant over, I have two guest reviews to reply to, because I can't PM explanations to them!

**Lav de mermaid:** This is more of a clerical error on Mr. R's part. If you google search 'sea green color' you'll come up with a rather nice bluish teal swatch. Now, assuming you'd have to lighten the teal if it was to be an eye, it'd appear more gorgeous blue so I always just called Percy's eyes as blue, claiming sea green as more of a blue then a green. Last night though, I was reading Son of Sobek (well, listening) and I realized Mr. R had quite obviously not googled the color 'sea green' before, as he meant Percy's eyes where green. Or perhaps he did mean teal, but always described them as green. Who knows! I apologize, also if you see that in the next mmmm ten chapters or so, since I have them pre written and they're so long I'd be bound to miss it. I also apologize this is kind of a long reply . . . .

**Guest:** HTSAL isn't really one of those stories . . . how do I put this. I wrote most of this story in one weekend, and most of the chapters are three to four thousand words long. HTSAL, although I'm trying to make the chapters longer, it takes a lot of effort to pop out a 4,000 word chapter in two days, since I'm a horrible procastinator usually. I also apologize, no update for HTSAL this weekend, as I currently have horrible writers block for that story, which always seems to happen when a story turns six months old. Sorry!

Special shoutouts to - **aviendhaphiragon,** **Guest,** and **Lav de mermaid **for reviewing! Also thanks to everyone who's followed and favorited this story!


	4. Hermione: I'm Gonna Show You Crazy

**Hermione, Chapter Four, I'm Gonna Show You Crazy.**

* * *

As soon as we stepped foot in the hall, the demigods were abducted by Professor Mcgonagall, probably to be briefed. I was worried, in all honesty. When the Americans had first arrived, we had no idea what was going on. Mrs. Weasley stopped us from going downstairs, so Fred, in a rather smart move, sent Ginny down. She proclaimed, running up the stairs, that they had accidentally thrown a knife at her and some ranting about something or other.

This had caused Harry to let Sirius talk Mrs. Weasley into letting us know, saying it'd be easier on their 'cover' anyways.

I would have liked to think we would have found out rather quickly about them not being transfer students.

"He's not there," Harry said rather suddenly. Ron and I scanned the staff table for Hagrid, though there was no real need; Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup. "He can't have left," said Ron, sounding slightly anxious. "Of course he hasn't," said Harry firmly. "You don't think he's . . . hurt, or anything, do you?" I said uneasily.

"No," said Harry at once. "But where is he, then?" There was a pause, then Harry said very quietly, so that Neville, Parvati, and Lavender could not hear, "Maybe he's not back yet. You know — from his mission — the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."

"Yeah . . . yeah, that'll be it," said Ron, sounding reassured, but I bit my lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of Hagrid's absence.

"Who's that?" I said sharply, pointing toward the middle of the staff table. Harry's eyes followed hers. She was squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. She had a toad like face and a pair of pouchy eyes. "It's that Umbridge woman!" Harry exclaimed.

"Who?" I said. "She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!"

"Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking. "She works for Fudge?" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What on earth's she doing here, then?"

"Dunno . . ." I scanned the staff table again, eyes narrowed. "No," I muttered, "no, surely not . . ." My mind was jumping ahead of itself, that was all.

A moment later the doors from the entrance hall opened. A long line of scared-looking first years entered, (and eight teens, towering over them,) led by Professor Mcgonagall, who was carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizard's hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim.

The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor Mcgonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back.

The first years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight, and the Americans seemed unnaturally tan. A small boy right in the middle of the row looked as though he was trembling. I remembered, fleetingly, how terrified he had felt when he had stood there, waiting for the unknown test that would determine to which House he belonged.

The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:

_In times of old when I was new_

_And Hogwarts barely started_

_The founders of our noble school_

_Thought never to be parted:_

_United by a common goal,_

_They had the selfsame yearning,_

_To make the world's best magic school_

_And pass along their learning._

"_Together we will build and teach!"_

_The four good friends decided_

_And never did they dream that they_

_Might someday be divided,_

_For were there such friends anywhere_

_As Slytherin and Gryffindor?_

_Unless it was the second pair_

_Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?_

_So how could it have gone so wrong?_

_How could such friendships fail?_

_Why, I was there and so can tell_

_The whole sad, sorry tale._

_Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those Whose ancestry is purest."_

_Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose Intelligence is surest."_

_Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those With brave deeds to their name,"_

_Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, And treat them just the same."_

_These differences caused little strife_

_When first they came to light,_

_For each of the four founders had_

_A House in which they might_

_Take only those they wanted, so,_

_For instance, Slytherin_

_Took only pure-blood wizards_

_Of great cunning, just like him,_

_And only those of sharpest mind_

_Were taught by Ravenclaw_

_While the bravest and the boldest_

_Went to daring Gryffindor._

_Good Hufflepuff she took the rest,_

_And taught them all she knew,_

_Thus the Houses and their founders_

_Retained friendships firm and true._

_So Hogwarts worked in harmony_

_For several happy years,_

_But then discord crept among us_

_Feeding on our faults and fears. _

_The Houses that, like pillars four,_

_Had once held up our school,_

_Now turned upon each other and,_

_Divided, sought to rule._

_And for a while it seemed the school_

_Must meet an early end,_

_What with dueling and with fighting_

_And the clash of friend on friend_

_And at last there came a morning_

_When old Slytherin departed_

_And though the fighting then died out_

_He left us quite downhearted._

_And never since the founders four_

_Were whittled down to three_

_Have the Houses been united_

_As they once were meant to be._

_And now the Sorting Hat is here_

_And you all know the score:_

_I sort you into Houses_

_Because that is what I'm for,_

_But this year I'll go further,_

_Listen closely to my song:_

_Though condemned I am to split you_

_Still I worry that it's wrong,_

_Though I must fulfill my duty_

_And must quarter every year_

_Still I wonder whether sorting_

_May not bring the end I fear._

_Oh, know the perils, read the signs,_

_The warning history shows,_

_For our Hogwarts is in danger_

_From external, deadly foes_

_And we must unite inside her_

_Or we'll crumble from within._

_I have told you, I have warned you. . . ._

_Let the Sorting now begin._

The hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in my memory, with muttering and whispers. All across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbors and I, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what they were talking about.

"Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised. "Too right it has," said Harry.

The Sorting Hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities looked for by each of the four Hogwarts Houses and its own role in sorting them; I could not remember for the life of me if it ever trying to give the school advice before.

"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" I asked, sounding slightly anxious.

"Yes, indeed," said Nearly Headless Nick knowledgeably, leaning across Neville towards me (Neville winced, it was very uncomfortable to have a ghost lean through you).

"The hat feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels —" But Professor Mcgonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first years' names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches.

Nearly Headless Nick placed a see-through finger to his lips and sat primly upright again as the muttering came to an abrupt end. With a last frowning look that swept the four House tables, Professor Mcgonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out,

"Abercrombie, Euan."

A small, terrified looking boy stumbled forward and put the hat on his head; it was only prevented from falling right down to his shoulders by his very prominent ears. The hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

I clapped as loud as I could, along with the rest of Gryffindor House as Euan Abercrombie staggered to their table and sat down, looking as though he would like very much to sink through the floor and never be looked at again.

It was only one first year, sorted to Hufflepuff when - "Chase, Annabeth."

There was a collected muttering when the tall tanned girl strode up to the stool. She sat down, her legs to long so she crossed them in an effort to make them shorter. She placed the hat on her head, and waited.

* * *

**Annabeth**

As I sat, I resisted the urge to jump when a voice whispered in my ear. "_Well well. A demigod. It's been awhile since I sorted one of you."_

If I think, will he hear me or do I have to speak?

"_I can hear you think." _was the hats response.

"_Well be ready, you have seven more."_ I thought.

"_If they're as easy as you to place, Daughter of Athena, it won't be any trouble at all." _And with that, the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW!"

I took the hat off, setting it on the stool and jogged over to a table of cheering teens, all wearing blue and silver ties, I noted. *

* * *

**Nico**

"Di Angelo, Nico," Professor Mcgonagall called, and I walked up to the stage. I was already having enough trouble with the ghosts. Of course, the ghosts. Fun fun fun! How would I ever keep my cover with a bunch of dolts floating around?

When the hat was placed on my head, it shivered. _Sorry, not much I can do._ I thought glumly.

"_So dark, so much pain. You run, you hide from it all. Not a Gryffindor. You don't depend on your smarts, not a Ravenclaw. Slytherin perhaps," _the hat whispered in my ear.

I shrugged. _Fine by me_.

And the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" I removed the hat, and jogged over to the table, taking a seat next to a ghost, giving him a solid 'shut up' glare. He did so.

The next of our group to be sorted would be... Lou.

* * *

**Lou**

"Ellen, Lou," the professor read. Oh goody. I would hate this.

I sat, and the hat was silent. I assumed it was picking through my brain – I had heard about the hat before.

"_Well, you're a tricky one._" a voice whispered in my ear. _Oh thanks, I try_. I thought, sarcasm dripping from my thoughts.

I could practically hear the hat chuckle. It considered for a long while, asking me questions and such.

"_Not Slytherin. Not for you, no. Ravenclaw could be for you – you're much more advanced than any of the students currently here. Or perhaps... Gryffindor? Hmm. Quite the dilemma._"

I watched the hordes of whispering students, watching me watching them.

"_No, you're a Gryffindor. You've always been brave." _His words whipped through my mind as he shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and I walked to the Gryffindor table rather numbly. He had seen it all, as expected. He must have known those words _You've always been brave_ and what they would do to me.

* * *

**Hermione**

Jason, Piper, and Thalia were all placed in Gryffindor, and Percy into Hufflepuff surprisingly. And Leo's was almost certainly the most entertaining sorting I had ever had the pleasure of seeing.

For first thing, the hat was comically too small for him, just barely fitting. And he yelped, assumingly when he first spoke in his head and proclaimed "Oh no not another talking hat!"

Thalia, sitting next to me, face palmed while giggles rolled through the tables.

Leo didn't seem to understand he could just think and the hat would hear him. "Hey! I'm sneaky. Okay, that time doesn't count it was the tables fault!"

This continued for some time, Leo shrieking from time to time. Things like "Nacho cheese!" where also interspersed. Eventually, the hat yelled "RAVENCLAW!" Leo jumped off the stool and was halfway down the steps before realizing he still had it on, and tossed it to Professor Mcgonagall, who caught it, rather miffed. Leo traipsed over to the wildly cheering Ravenclaw table, and took a seat next to Annabeth.

There were two more kids, and finally, "Zeller, Rose" was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor Mcgonagall picked up the hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands – welcome back! Also, a hand out to our American transfer students. There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!" There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate — for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the nine long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread, sauces, and flagons of pumpkin juice.

"Excellent," said Ron, with a kind of groan of longing, and he seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them onto his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick.

"What were you saying before the Sorting?" I asked the ghost. "About the hat giving warnings?"

Thalia turned her eyes towards our conversation, clearly interested. "Oh yes," said Nick, who seemed glad of a reason to turn away from Ron, who was now eating roast potatoes with almost indecent enthusiasm.

"Yes, I have heard the hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: Stand together, be strong from within."

"Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?" said Ron. His mouth was so full Harry thought it was quite an achievement for him to make any noise at all.

"I beg your pardon?" said Nearly Headless Nick politely, while Hermione looked revolted. Ron gave an enormous swallow and said, "How can it know if the school's in danger if it's a hat?"

"I have no idea," said Nearly Headless Nick. "Of course, it lives in Dumbledore's office, so I daresay it picks things up there."

"And it wants all the Houses to be friends?" said Harry, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy was holding court. "Fat chance."

"Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude," said Nick reprovingly. "Peaceful cooperation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate Houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody Baron."

"Only because you're terrified of him," said Ron. Nearly Headless Nick looked highly affronted. "Terrified? I hope I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, have never been guilty of cowardice in my life! The noble blood that runs in my veins —"

"What blood?" asked Ron. "Surely you haven't still got — ?" "It's a figure of speech!" said Nearly Headless Nick, now so annoyed his head was trembling ominously on his partially severed neck. "I assume I am still allowed to enjoy the use of whichever words I like, even if the pleasures of eating and drinking are denied me! But I am quite used to students poking fun at my death, I assure you!"

"Nick, he wasn't really laughing at you!" I said, throwing a furious look at Ron. Unfortunately, Ron's mouth was packed to exploding point again and all he could manage was "node iddum eentup sechew," which Nick did not seem to think constituted an adequate apology.

Rising into the air, he straightened his feathered hat and swept away from them to the other end of the table, coming to rest between the Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis. "Well done, Ron," I snapped. "What?" said Ron indignantly, having managed, finally, to swallow his food. "I'm not allowed to ask a simple question?"

"Oh forget it," I said, rather irritably. God, that idiot.

"Well, this school is already interesting, amiright?" Jason asked Thalia, who was sitting across from him, shrugged.

"Not enough to keep me busy. Or enough to keep you and Piper from getting some alone time, no doubt. Roof of the school looks cold, amiright little bro?" Thalia asked. Jason blushed, and then scowled.

"You weren't even there!" He pointed out, half furiously.

"Everybody talks everybody talks everybody talks too much," she sang, her blue eyes sparkling with electricity.

Jason, shaking it off, rolled his eyes and dug into the large heaping of food on his plate. Loud laughter could be heard from the Ravenclaw table, where Leo was waving his arms wildly, and several people were enraptured with his story.

I glanced farther down the Gryffindor table, where Piper was talking to some of the sixth years, her hands moving almost as much as Leo's. Lou was talking happily with Isabella, a girl in my year, but her smile didn't reach her dark eyes.

My eyes moved over to the Slytherin table next, where Nico didn't seem to quite fit, but wasn't shunned either. Then, back to the Ravenclaw table, I noted Annabeth animatedly talking about something with James Carnagie, a fifth year Ravenclaw, who was laughing.

"Sparky, I have a question-" Jason cut off Thalia with "t_iki veekansus mo_," he belted out "_zeres moi aresatikana." _I glanced at Harry questioningly. I didn't recognize the language. Thalia responded in a heated voice, and the two began to argue, insults flying back and forth.

* * *

**A/N: **Annabeth * I know, I know. Sue me, I like blue and silver better than blue and bronze.

So, this chapter was originally like, 5000 words, but I chopped off the next POV, which was already short and is now about 4000 words so I'm just going to have to figure this out . . . . anyways, I have about another 12K written, and maybe like three chapters. I sort of stopped writing for a bit, all burned out. I also apologize for not updating - things got crazy busy.

Okay! Explanation time on the houses!

**Leo: **Leo is, just simply a Ravenclaw. He's not sneaky, or manipulative. He's not brave, in fact it states he runs away from pretty much everything. He's also not a Hufflepuff. He's a Ravenclaw, through and through.

**Annabeth**: Is also a Ravenclaw. Don't fuck with me, she is a Ravenclaw. She relies on her smarts, and I swear to god, if you say she's a Slytherin... She fits best into Ravenclaw.

**Nico**: Nico doesn't get a ton of quest time, or really any since I didn't read the Demigod files, but I imagine in the moment he can be very manipulative, and that he's an excellent liar.

**Percy**: Okay. He is a Hufflepuff. HIS FATAL FLAW IS LOYALTY. Originally, he was in Gryffindor but I changed it. It helped the plot more but it made less sense if he wasn't in Hufflepuff.

**Thalia and Jason**: Thalia died for her friends, Jason is a born leader, strong and brave. They, are Gryffindors.

**Piper**: Piper, well I'm going to build onto her, but she was already a Grade A badass. She's already courageous.

Shoutouts to aviendhaphiragon and Lizzy for reviewing!

Please review, it makes my day!


	5. Nico: I Wanna Get Better

**Nico, Chapter Five. I Wanna Get Better.**

Sitting at the Slytherin table was quite the adventure. I was a fourth year technically, and had chosen to sit with a group of people who looked my age, and one nervously talkative ghost that quickly moved on.

I found out they were indeed my classmates, Liam, a tall boy even sitting down, with rather shaggy dark brown hair, Kieran, a boy with dark, glittering eyes, who seemed rather malevolent. Jasper, and then Ryan, who was overly talkative to make up for the other boys. For the girls, there was Jessica, a fourteen year old with a rather cold beauty, and long black hair tied back in a ponytail, Amelia, a small girl who I hadn't even noticed at first, and Charlie, a fiery girl with almost red hair who seemed to fill Amelia's space.

They were, all of them together, not too bad actually. They were curious, and asked me questions of course, but nothing as prying as what I was sure was happening to the others. Nearing the end of the feast, Thalia and Jason began to fight, shouting at each other in Greek, with some rather colorful insults.

Lou jumped up, as did Piper, and the two calmed them. Lou gave them both a rather rude hand gesture, making me laugh.

"Nice one," I muttered, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.

"What were they fighting about?" Liam asked, glancing over his shoulder at them. Thalia was now leaning back, arms crossed. The clouds above where rolling now, thunder rumbling from some distance away, and it was down pouring. Another thing, their ceiling? So cool!

"Usual stuff for them. You get used to it after a while, they're either fighting constantly or are best buddies," I shrugged "what can you do, we're cousins." I took another bite of food while everybody stared at me.

"What?" I asked after swallowing.

"They're your cousins?" Jessica asked, sounding aghast. Aghast, I like that word. Aghast, aghast, aghast aghast aghast. I nodded. "Jason, Thalia, and Percy. Not related to the rest of them though..." my brow furrowed "well, I think I'm related to Leo. Second cousin three times removed or something."

"Aren't we all related?" I asked with a shrug when they kept on staring. This seemed to bring them out of their trance as they realized I was correct, we were in fact all related some way or another, or at least wizards were. (That's what Ron had told me as I studied the family tree in the living room at the Black house.)

Done eating, I pushed my plate away slightly. It seemed as if everybody was done eating in fact, because the noise in the hall was climbing upwards fast. Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as everybody turned to face the headmaster.

"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students — and a few of our older students ought to know by now too," there were a few laughs, and most heads turned to the Weasley twins at the Gryffindor table, who were trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door.

"We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause during which I did not take part of. I didn't like the look of Umbridge.

Dumbledore continued, "We have eight exchange students from America this year, who come from a small academy on the east coast, which had to be shut down for the school year. I hope you will welcome them with open arms.

"Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the —" He broke off, looking inquiringly at Professor Umbridge.

As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge said, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.

Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat back down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk.

Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. One of the Professor's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair, and Professor McGonagall's mouth was in such a thin line it was barely visible. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts. For that matter, neither did I.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome." Her voice was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish and again, I felt a powerful rush of dislike that I could not explain to myself: all I knew was that I loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan.

She gave another little throat clearing cough ("Hem, hem") and continued: "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth, reminding me of some of fathers more hideous beasts.

"And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!" I glanced around. None of the faces I could see looked happy; on the contrary, they all looked rather taken aback at being addressed as though they were five years old, and Charlie looked rather murderous at the treatment.

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!" Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.

"I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan," a girl down the table whispered, and she and her friend began to snigger quietly. A few more whispers broke out amongst the tables, and giggles. Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ("Hem, hem"), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice.

She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them. "The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the Wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching." Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back.

Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawk like. At this, I slipped into a dazed world, imagining people as different animals. I only tuned back in as Dumbledore droned on again, talking about Quidditch tryouts and the like He dismissed the school soon after, and I stood up, prepared to follow my new housemates.

"I think Professor Snape is waving you down," Amy said, nodding towards the large head table, the longest sentence I had heard her speak. I said a quick "thanks," even though I didn't know who Professor Snape _was_, and made my way through the students up to the main table. Annabeth and Leo were already there, and Thalia close behind me, the others following.

"Thank you. Fillius, Severus, Pomona, Minerva if you could all remain here," Dumbledore said pleasantly. It was my first time up close to him. I recalled, hazily, my father mentioning a Dumbledore. Hades preferred to stay out of other gods affairs, the only reason he hadn't dragged off half of the wizards and witches. It all made sense now. My dad had mentioned wizards before, I just hadn't realized it.

The other teachers all left through a door on the side of the hall, and soon enough it was just Dumbledore and four other teachers.

"These are your heads of house, Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw, Professor Mcgonagall, head of Gryffindor, Professor Sprout, head of Hufflepuff, and Professor Snape, head of Slytherin. Now, I trust you all got here safely?" his blue eyes twinkled. I felt a strong sense of knowledge radiating off of him. Another thing was, I knew he was a friend of Chiron's.

"Yes, thank you for asking Mis – Professor Dumbledore," Percy said courteously.

"Now, if you need anything, you can just ask your head of house. Anything at all. I understand you have a certain set of needs," Dumbledore said. His eyes landed on me, and I had the strangest feeling he was peeking into my soul. I knew if he actually did, he wouldn't like what he found.

"Someplace to study, and maybe a small place to train or exercise would be nice. We still have an extensive amount of work to cover," Annabeth said politely. Dumbledore smiled, "of course, I'll see to it personally. Now, Professors if you wouldn't mind showing your students to their common rooms."

With that, Snape nodded at me, and I followed him down the stairs, following his sweeping black robes and oily black hair, much like my fathers. The entrance hall had cleared by now, though the sound of muffled voices could be heard from above. I followed Professor Snape down a staircase, but not before noting both Professor Flitwick and Mcgonagall led the other demigods up.

Slytherin... Slytherin... Harry and Ron had set the house in an ugly fashion, full of dark wizards, but Hermione had set it straight with us later, in hushed tones. A lot of dark wizards were said to have come out of the Slytherin house, but the whole house was _not_ inherently evil. Gryffindor and Slytherin had been bitter enemies for centuries. I also picked that up from the sorting hat song about uniting. I could practically hear the words 'fat chance' rolling from the tables.

Professor Snape stopped abruptly in front of a stone wall. "The password is Vulpes," he informed me, and the wall slid back, revealing a passageway "you are set in Dorm eight, fourth years," and with that, he turned on his heel and stalked off. With a sigh, I descended into the common room.

The walls where made of darkened brick, windows dark, but letting in a greenish light still. A large fireplace burned on one side of the room, and chairs and tables littered the room. All of the sofa's and chairs where either green or silver. A few small green lights hung from the ceiling, and one large crystal chandelier set on dim. The room was full of Slytherin's, milling around and talking.

"Nico!" Ryan plowed through the common room, Liam in his wake. "Hey! What dorm do you have?" he asked eagerly.

"Uhm, Dorm eight," I said, slightly put off by his happy demeanor. "Oh great! That's Liam and I's dorm. Good, that means you have the same classes as us, well mostly. Come on, I'll explain on the way," as Ryan turned on his heel, Liam shrugged, and we set off following the bubbly boy, down three staircases to a level marked FOURTH YEARS 5-10, FIFTH YEARS 1-5.

We took the passageway to the left, and down almost to the end where a door with a large ornate 8 was. I followed Ryan and Liam inside. The room was rather large, another fireplace, with five four poster beds. Another few windows let in blue green light. Two chairs sat by the fireplace, and a door led off to what I presumed was the bathroom.

"What's with the windows?" I asked as Ryan flopped down on a bed.

"We're underwater, in the lake," Liam explained, finding his bed and sitting down as well. My eyes glanced over the other empty beds, trunks sitting at the foot.

Colin, Samuel and ahh Nico. I sat down on my bed, kicking my shoes off. "Underwater huh? My cousin would love this." I grinned at the mental image of Percy down here in a bathrobe, sipping blue coke from a teacup and conversing with passing sea animals.

Just then, my two other roommates entered. A redhead, and a pale blonde boy. The other two, well mainly Ryan immediately jumped up and begin talking animatedly. I myself, meant to go talk to them but passed out in my school clothes.

* * *

**Percy**

To say that the first day of classes was a disaster is an understatement. For starters, I had somehow lost half of my clothes last night, and had to go rooting around for them. So naturally, I was late, and left after my fellow dorm mates. I got lost, and had to ask directions from a pair of rather snooty sixth or seventh year Slytherins.

I got to breakfast just before the post arrived, which freaked me the fuck out. Owls swooped overhead, dropping packages. I got nothing, as to be expected. I made a mental note to borrow Annabeth's owl later and send my mom a letter (and possibly a request for blue food, which Hogwarts seemed to lack) speaking of which, I hadn't seen Annabeth's owl for three days. I frowned, and shrugged as I piled bacon and eggs onto my plate.

Just then, Annabeth herself grabbed my wrist, pulling me up from my table and dragging me to the Gryffindor table next to Thalia, Jason, Lou and Piper much to my surprise. Annabeth plonked down beside me, much to the astonishment of the Gryffindors as well, who only shot quick glances at us.

"Got a letter from Mr. Brunner," she said casually, turning over a thick white envelope. "Have you opened it?" I asked, curious. Annabeth sent me a scathing look and hit me on the back of the head "ow!" I exclaimed.

"You're an idiot," she scoffed, "I thought it was common knowledge Kelp Head was an idiot, or was I mistaken?" Thalia asked from my other side with a grin. We where at the end of the second Gryffindor table, and a moment later Nico and Leo joined us, causing more whispers. *

"So why was I dragged over here?" Nico asked grumpily. Thalia ruffled his hair with a quick 'aww' making Nico glare at her, arms crossed.

"Letter from Mr. Brunner," Jason explained. This peaked Nico's attenion. We had all been told Chiron's alias at one point or another, a safe word of sorts.

Annabeth ripped it open, and scanned down it quickly. She laughed, and passed it to Lou who was sitting next to her. It traveled around until it got to me, and thankfully it was written in Greek.

**Dear Annabeth.**

**Thank you for your letter informing me of your safe arrival. I must tell you, yet again how important it is that you, and the other demigods stay undercover. I recently received word from my friend of a ministry official instigated into the staff, the Defense against the dark arts professor.**

**You must stay on her good side, If she has one. She will already be suspicious of you, and it will do you no good to draw attention to yourselves. Keep your heads down, and stick with Harry.**

**I know he is also coming under heavy fire from the wizarding world, but he must stay alive and un harmed, the dangers are astronomical.**

**And a small note from Piper's sister, Alison is on the back.**

**Chiron.**

I flipped over the page to read in a messy scrawl in English.

_Oh my god Annabeth Travis and Katie totally made out! TELL EVERYBODY. And Leo owes me $20! I SAID IT WOULD HAPPEN BEFORE SEPTEMBER! XOXO Ali._

It took me a moment to decipher, and then I laughed, and the letter was suddenly snatched out of my hands. I turned around angrily, to see Professor Umbridge holding the letter, frowning. "Who is this from? What language is this?"

She held out the letter towards me, and I willed the words to look Greek.

"Just a letter from Annabeth's Uncle. Can I have it back now?" Professor Umbridge did not respond, flipping over the paper and reading Alison's note. She scowled. "Professor Umbridge, can I have my letter?" Annabeth asked, standing up now.

She ignored us still. "Give Annabeth the letter please," Piper said, pouring a warm charmspeak into her voice. Professor Umbridge dropped the letter onto the table, where Annabeth snatched it up.

"You can go back to the head table and forget about the letter now," Professor Umbridge turned and waddled back up to the head table. I opened my bag, and Annabeth quickly dropped the letter inside.

"Uncle Brunner was right," Nico said grimly. A bell rang, and Nico scooped up some food, making a dash for the door with the rest of the school. I got up and hopped over to the Hufflepuff table where my dorm mate Alex was finishing up his food. "Got your schedule," he said, mouth full "you have all of the same classes as me before lunch, and then the rest with either George or Peter. Come on, we're going to be late for History of Magic if we don't hurry up," and with that, Alex pushed away from the table, grabbing his book bag from the seat beside him. I followed after him quickly.

History of Magic did suck, as did the rest of our day which included Transfiguration, Herbology, and Double Potions. At least I had both Transfiguration and Potions with Annabeth, both of which I would've failed miserably without. Leo did in fact, as he managed to make his cauldron explode all over Professor Snape's shoes, which he was obviously none to pleased about.

Plus the fact that these people did not understand the term _first __week__._ Three days into term and I had a mound of homework, and my Dyslexia was not helping. I needed food in all honesty. I always snacked when I was studying, it helped me concentrate.

"Do you know where the kitchens are?" I asked Alex as I rubbed my eyes, glad to have an excuse to not look at the page. Words still did loop de loops around my vision, making me dizzy.

"Yeah. Just outside in the passageway, there's a painting of a bowl of fruit, tickle the pair," Alex said in a distracted tone, scribbling away feverishly, "thanks," I muttered as I collected my things, though I doubt he heard me. Most of the Hufflepuff's where a friendly bunch, but Alex was rather – unfriendly.

I left the common room, and found my way to the pear. "This is so weird," I muttered as I reached up and tickled the pear. A large doorknob appeared, and I turned it, walking into a room with a low ceiling, and a large amount of kitchen appliances. There where three fireplaces, and the nine tables set in the same design as the tables in the great hall.

"Can we help you sir?" several small beings where around my legs. They had large, bat like ears and eyes the size of tennis balls. They where small, about two feet tall, with spindly bodies and oversized heads. And where they wearing – pillow cases?

I jumped. "Um, not to be rude, but what are you?" I asked, almost positive that was rude.

The creatures tittered. "We are house elves sir. We live to serve," It sounded almost like something a slave would say, but these house elves seemed postiviley glowing.

"Oh, well then can you get me a Blue Sprite, and maybe some Blue chips and some salsa?" I asked, praying they had these items. The house elves immediately dispatched with 'of course sir!'s and 'right away!'s.

"Can I study in here?" I asked, to not one of them in particular. They nodded, and with a heavy sigh I sat down at one of the tables. I realized this was the most alone I had been since arriving at school.

"Sir, we have no sprite. Would you like a blue butterbeer instead?" one of the house elves asked. I nodded, not knowing what a butterbeer was, but figuring it would be fine.

Twenty seconds later, my food was in front of me. "Thanks!" I said, trying some of the violently blue butterbeer. It tasted amazing, and I took a long swig, then turned my attention towards my chips and an essay for Potions. It also didn't help I already didn't know any of this stuff.

I needed Annabeth to get down here. I went over to the nearest sink, and turned it on, letting my powers make it spray out in a fine mist. The electrical lights shone down, making a rainbow. I pulled out a Drachma. "Oh Fleecy do me a solid. Show me Annabeth, Ravenclaw dorms."

A moment later there was Annabeth, flopped on her bed, immersed in a book. "Wise girl," I said softly. She shrieked, and her book went flying.

"Percy! Why are you IM'ing me?" Annabeth scolded.

"Can you come down to the kitchens? You just go to the entrance hall, and down the staircase to the right of the hourglasses, and then you tickle the pear painting on the left side of the wall. I wanna talk to you. Bring your homework."

"Kitchens. Go to the entrance hall, down the staircase to the right of the points, and tickle the pear painting on the left side of the passageway. Got it. Be there -" Annabeth suddenly cut off the transmission, presumably because one of her dorm mates walked in. I turned off the tap, and walked back over to the table, munching on my chips and flipping through books, occasionally writing down a helpful fact with Riptide. (I had quickly discovered that me and quills did not mix, and had been using Riptide instead of a quill. None of the teachers had yet to comment.)

Annabeth showed up a few minutes later, looking rather frazzled. "Hey – oh, House Elves! I've never met any of you before!" Annabeth's attention immediately turned to the creatures. They smiled, as did she. "Could I have a decaf coffee, three sugars two creams please?" the house elves nodded and zoomed off, and Annabeth joined me at the table.

"Of course you know about house elves. Why, it would just be preposterous to think otherwise," I teased, pulling Annabeth into a hug, while Annabeth nuzzled the side of my neck.

"Sorry we haven't really seen each other at all. You could probably sneak up to the Ravenclaw common room whenever you wanted to though, as long as you're not overly loud they won't care," Annabeth smiled at me, and I kissed her on the forehead. "That sounds great."

I glanced down at my books. "What I really need help with though, apart from my desperate need to see you, is help on my homework. I don't know what half these things are and the print is tiny and gah, it's all so hard," I ran a hand through my hair, just about ready to pass out from exhaustion. Annabeth pulled out a tablet from her bag. I glanced over at her, interested.

"Leo and I have been working on it," she explained, quickly unlocking the tablet to show a minimalistic home screen. "All of the components are made with Celestial bronze, as is the outer layer. Doesn't send out a signal to monsters. Now, let's see if all the wizards fry it out or not, he made a few adjustments..." Annabeth trailed off bringing up an app and snapping a picture of my book.

The screen flickered momentarily, showing the word **αναμονή** going around in circles on the screen. A moment later, the page showed up on the tablet, translated into greek.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. Grinning, Annabeth handed me the tablet. I zoomed in a bit. The picture was high definition as well, not grainy. I kissed Annabeth on the cheek. "This, is awesome!" I exclaimed.

"I'm glad it's working, it shorted out several times. A few hours of tedious work, a bit of forging and tablet design on Leo's part, and bam we have electronic text books," Annabeth was practically glowing.

"Now this, this sounds like a plan."

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTE.**

**Percy:** * I call it as about 250 students per house, making 1,000 students at Hogwarts at any given time. Just to make it easier it's two tables per house.

OMG. I apologize for such a long time between updates! Also here's A RATING DISCLAIMER.

This is a T rating. There is swearing, and there may be minor dirty jokes/sexual innuendo's, as you would expect with Teens. I'm not sure if I put that on the first chapter, but if I didn't HERE IT IS.

Also, the chapter names? Apart from the first one all of the chapter names are song names.

I just had this chapter, edited sitting on my hardrive! Tsk tsk Id!


	6. Leo: Where Did the Party Go?

Leo, Chapter Six. Where did the party go?

At first, I had been iffy about the whole 'Ravenclaw' thing, I was a bit too loud, too much of a jokester, and unlike Annabeth I got a T (whatever that means,) on the blind pop quiz that happened the first day of the year, which did not go over well.

That was until, they found out I had different creative pursuits.

Wednesday night, and I had already finished my homework, mainly thanks to cheating off of Piper's notes, as she had had the same classes earlier in the week (did seriously nobody figure that out at this school yet?).

I was leaning over a design of the new L-pad, short for Leo pad, obviously. "Annabeth, you said it flickered to the waiting screen for how long?" I asked, rubbing my eye, which I had somehow gotten eraser shavings in my eye.

Annabeth glanced up from her book, looking irritable. "About five seconds. Better than last time, but you may need to lengthen the catch nodes, Hermione said that so much magic messes with the-" I cut her off, mainly out of annoyance. "Yes, and no matter how many times you repeat that I will tell you that you're wrong. The catch nodes are fine, I think it's the mainframe itself and I am not spending the next six months redesigning this baby. It took Vivian, Harley, Nyssa, and Jake, as well as my fine self to just figure out all the components, and it took half a month and several injuries to get them all!"

"Can I take a look?" I glanced up at the girl behind me, her brown hair tied up in a ponytail.

(According to Piper it was actually Dirty blonde. Well, excusssssseee me for not being an expert on hair colors.)

Her blue eyes were focused on the paper in front of me. Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing. Annabeth luckily snapped me out of it. "Yo, Repair boy Khione is behind you."

I whipped around, only to turn and scowl at her. "Why you gotta be so rudeee?" I asked, and handed the paper to the girl now leaning against the table. "And sure, take a look."

She studied the drawings for a moment, and then she motioned for another Ravenclaw to come over. "Justin, take a look at this design," she handed him the paper and turned back to me. "Did you make this?" she asked, motioning to the paper in 'Justin's' hands.

I nodded. "Mostly. Annabeth helped a bit but she's not much of a techie. And then a few of my siblings chipped in along the way."

"But, it's mainly you?" Justin turned to me.

"Yessssssss, that is exactly what I'm saying, for the fifth time," I nodded my head to further put out the point.

"These are amazing!" Justin set down the schematics on the table. "Madison, just look at this wiring! So delicate! You just need to re-cross these here, the power and the LED's, and that should stop the effects with everything else you have planned out. I mean, thorough work, you just missed that. It's how you get anything to work here," Justin remarked. I leaned over his shoulder, glancing at what he was gesturing to.

And suddenly, people were taking notice of us. Then, I learned just how amazing Ravenclaw is. Everybody was interested, surprisingly, especially after Annabeth pulled out the actual prototype, and somebody found out all the apps I had designed. Everybody wanted one, and that's how it became unified.

It was like Camp Half-Blood, but full of Athena and Hephaestus kids only. Madison and Justin took charge first, I learned they were both sixth years, Justin being a prefect. They set anybody available to work, the first years copying out the schematics with exact detail so there was enough to pass around, taking notes. Second and third years where to scrounge around for supplies in the dorms and common rooms, while the anybody fourth year and up had a separate task each.

I ended up having to rifle through my trunk for all of my schematics, IM Nyssa to tell her to put all of the schematics I had left behind – and several pounds of Celestial bronze and all of my tool sets, in the mail via Hermes ASAP. When I got back downstairs, the common room was transformed.

Somebody stole a few whiteboards from an unused classroom, drawing even larger schematics, instructions, no-nos, app ideas, programming, and assignments for certain years. The sofas and chairs had disappeared (I suspected the work of the seventh years,) and several large tables had replaced them, with lots of room left. Somebody had set up an IT corner, and a few brainiacs were already hunched over a table, talking about programming. In the middle table sat Annabeth, barking out orders, and Madison beside her, jotting down ideas given by passing school mates.

In layman's terms, I was in heaven.

The next morning, however, I was just as happy, probably even happier, on an adrenaline rush on having created the Delta Pad, that and gross amounts of coffee seemed to be the only thing keeping the Ravenclaws up. Most of the tower had been up all night, only dropping for naps here and there, though I had noted somewhere in my haze that most of the fifth, sixth, and seventh years stayed up the whole night.

"So, what's up with you guys? You look worse than Nico," Percy asked from behind me. I jumped, seeing that he was leaning back dangerously from the Hufflepuff table.

"We pulled an all nightwear working on the Pad," I explained, rubbing my eyes. At this point, I was willing to pour water over my head just to keep me awake. Madison patted my arm, and then promptly took a nap against the table.

I was inclined to do the same. The bell rang, and the first class we had was Charms, with Gryffindor. Luckily the classroom wasn't terribly far away. Professor Flitwick was a cool enough dude though he wasn't very amused on Monday when I set off an army of mechanical mice to skitter across the room.

I pulled up Annabeth, and after taking the last swig of coffee, I walked out of the main hall.

When we reached the Charms classroom, I was almost positive I was going to pass out. I had pulled more than a few all-nighters before, but never had I been so tired. I didn't fathom it, I couldn't.

"Hello, class. Now, I know I gave you all essays to complete last class, but I think those can wait until next week. What I am really interested in, is as to why my whole house seems to be dead on their feet," Professor Flitwick squeaked from the front of the class.

I could hear Thalia snickering, and muttered a few obscenities at her in what I thought was Greek.

"We were working on a design, sir. It was mainly Leo, but he's a bit tired," Annabeth's voice answered from somewhere in front of me.

"I'll say. I don't think he's slept since 2013," Jason

I instead, passed out to the hum of voices, only to awake as I fell to the ground, too tired to function. "Well, I think we can just rest up this period, hmm? Do you Gryffindor's have any objections? No? Well, see if you can summon yourself some pillows," I stared at Professor Flitwick, who promptly wiped the white board and sat down, pulling a book off of his desk and propping his feet up. Somebody tossed me a pillow, and I conked out.

"Aww. Poor Leo," Piper said at lunch, ruffling my hair. I glared at her. We had all met up at the Ravenclaw table, even Nico, seeing as it was more neutral ground. I wasn't in as much of a haze as I had been last night though I was still incredibly tired, and as Thalia phrased it 'a grumpy two-year-old'

Nobody had yet to pry out of us what we had been working on all night. Not one of the Ravenclaw's had peeped. Apparently this was something that was quite common amongst the Ravenclaw's, to partake on large projects that meant the house spent several nights sleepless.

Rumors had been flying all day, of varying amounts of idiocy. They had been designing the Minister of Magic's new house, a new kind of car, a new iPhone, a wand, an electronic, they had been cross-breeding animals, I had heard them all, being the center of most of these, the more gossipy girls, and braver students had flat out asked me about varying rumors.

"I'm perfectly fine," I muttered, setting my head against the table.

"You look like crap Leo. Tonight get some sleep. Don't you dare keep on working on that stupid Delta Pad," Lou said in a threatening tone. My head shot up to the girl, who's dark green eyes bored into me. Her purple hair she had since dyed because her hair was one uniform shade of dark brown, her skin seeming fairer then normal, painting quite a pretty picture.

"How did you know about that?" I asked quietly, leaning in nearer to her.

"I have my sources. Plus, I was talking to my sister earlier and she said the whole Hephaestus cabin was going crazy gathering supplies for some stupid Delta pad something for you," Lou shrugged as she buttered her toast.

I was absolutely astounded, that Lou was so resourceful, and that his siblings had such large mouths, I kept on opening and closing my mouth, gaping like a fish.

"Oh close your mouth you'll catch something," Piper said, pushing my jaw up.

Her little idea gave me, well an idea. An Iris message app. Why hadn't I thought of that? Something like Skype, but better than Skype.

"You just gave me an idea for an app," I said, and my eyes must have been shining maniacally because Thalia asked, "dude, are you okay?"

The bell rung, and I pushed away from the table. "We should get to class, first Defense against the Dark Arts! Annabeth, Perce, come on, let's go see what everybody was whining about."

Defense against the Dark Arts was much, much worse torture then anybody could expect. At least for an ADHD, Dyslexic, up for thirty-nine hours teenager.

When I entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom I found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan she had been wearing at the feast and a black velvet bow on top of her head, which rather looked like a fly perched above her toad like face.

The class was quiet as it entered the room; Professor Umbridge was, as yet, an unknown quantity and nobody knew yet how strict a disciplinarian she was likely to be.

I made an effort to let the crowd jump in front of me, as to not have to sit in the front, but alas, as I took my seat at the back my desk was levitated up to the front, with me still in it.

Now, usually I would yell when this happened, but I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut.

"Well, good afternoon!" she said when finally the whole class had sat down. A few people mumbled "Good afternoon," in reply.

"Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," they chanted back at her, me mouthing it but barely mumbling a thing. "There, now," said Professor Umbridge sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks. I had, luckily not even had time to get mine out, so instead grabbed shoved his wand back inside his bag and pulled out the quill, ink, and parchment.

Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, extracted her own wand, which was an unusually short one, and tapped the blackboard sharply with it; words appeared on the board at once:

Defense Against the Dark Arts A Return to Basic Principles.

"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year.

"You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please." She rapped the blackboard again; the first message vanished and was replaced by:

Course aims:

1\. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.

2\. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.

3\. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

For a couple of minutes, the room was full of the sound of scratching quills on parchment. When everyone had copied down Professor Umbridge's three-course aims she said, "Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

There was a dull murmur of assent throughout the class. "I think we'll try that again," said Professor Umbridge. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply 'Yes, Professor Umbridge,' or 'No, Professor Umbridge.' So, has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge," rang through the room.

"Good," said Professor Umbridge. "I should like you to turn to page five and read chapter one, 'Basics for Beginners.' There will be no need to talk." Professor Umbridge left the blackboard and settled herself in the chair behind the teacher's desk, observing them all with those pouchy toad's eyes.

I turned to page five of his copy of Defensive Magical Theory and started to read. It was desperately dull, quite as bad as listening to Professor Binns, who I had had yesterday. I felt his concentration sliding away from me quickly;

I had soon read the same line half a dozen times without taking in more than the first few words, and even those where blurred. Several silent minutes passed. Next to me, Percy was absentmindedly turning his quill over and over in his fingers, staring at the same spot on the page. I looked right and received a surprise to shake me out of my haze. Annabeth had not even opened her copy of Defensive Magical Theory.

She was staring fixedly at Professor Umbridge with her hand in the air. I couldn't even remember Annabeth ever neglecting to read when instructed to, or indeed resisting the temptation to open any book that came under her nose.

I looked at her questioningly, but she merely shook her head slightly to indicate that she was not about to answer questions, and continued to stare at Professor Umbridge, who was looking just as resolutely in another direction.

After several more minutes had passed, however, I was not the only one watching Annabeth. The chapter they had been instructed to read was so tedious that more and more people were choosing to watch Annabeth's mute attempt to catch Professor Umbridge's eye than to struggle on with "Basics for Beginners."

When more than half the class were staring at Annabeth rather than at their books, Professor Umbridge seemed to decide that she could ignore the situation no longer. "Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Annabeth, as though she had only just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," said Annabeth. "Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her small, pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," said Annabeth. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows. "And your name is — ?"

"Annabeth Chase," Annabeth replied. "Well, Miss Chase, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," said Professor Umbridge in a voice of determined sweetness.

"Well, I don't," said Annabeth bluntly. "There's nothing written up there about using spells, only theory."

There was a short silence in which many members of the class turned their heads to frown at the three-course aims still written on the blackboard. "Using spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a spell, Miss Chase. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Paris, a boy who lived in the dorm next to me asked, his mouth hanging open.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr. — ?"

"Witte," Paris said, sticking his hand high in the air.

Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on him.

"Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice spells, especially defensive spells?" Percy called out. Professor Umbridge's pouchy eyes lingered on the boy for a moment before she addressed him. "And you are . . .?"

"Mr. Jackson," Percy replied shortly.

"Next time you will you raise your hand in my class, Mister Jackson." Professor Umbridge stated smoothly. Percy sighed impatiently.

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, or even British, Mister Jackson?" asked Professor Umbridge in her falsely sweet voice. "No, but —"

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way —"

"What use is that?" said Percy loudly. "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a —"

"Hand, Mr. Jackson!" sang Professor Umbridge. Percy thrust his fist in the air. Professor Umbridge promptly turned away from him again, but now several other people had their hands up too. I elbowed both Annabeth and Percy, who were sitting on either side of me. "Are you two mad?" I hissed as quietly as possible and continued in a quiet tone in greek. "Incognito you dolts."

"And your name is?" Professor Umbridge said to Theo, my dorm mate.

"Theodore Winston." "Well, Mr. Winston?"

"Well, it's like Harry, Annabeth, and Percy said, isn't it?" said Theo. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free —"

"I repeat," said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at Theo, "do you expect to be attacked during my classes?"

"No, but —" Professor Umbridge talked over him. "I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," she said, an unconvincing smile stretching her wide mouth, "but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed — not to mention," she gave a nasty little laugh, "extremely dangerous half-breeds."

"If you mean Professor Lupin," piped up Theo Winston angrily, "he was the best we ever —" "Hand, Mr. Winston! As I was saying — you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group, and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day —"

"No we haven't," Kelly, a Hufflepuff girl said, "we just —" "Your name?" "Kelly Razi."

"Well, your hand is not up, Miss Razi!" Kelly put up her hand; Professor Umbridge turned away from her. "It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you —"

"Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?" said Theo Winston hotly. "Mind you, we still learned loads —" "Your hand is not up, Mr. Winston!" trilled Professor Umbridge. "Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is?" she added, staring at Flora, whose hand had just shot up.

"Flora Blackwell ma'am, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the countercurses and things?"

"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

"Without ever practicing-" I had been watching this class fall apart like a ping pong match. It was true, we had to stay quiet, but at this, I had to pipe up as well.

"I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough —"

"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" I asked, hand up in the air.

Professor Umbridge looked up. "And your name?" she asked softly.

"Leo Valdez, Professor Umbridge. I've spent more then enough time in the real world, not locked up in a school, to know that you need to learn by practice, not by principle to get anywhere in life." Several people shot me grins, apparently I made a good argument.

"Five points from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, each. If any of you speak again, it will be ten each. After that, twenty. After that, detention for the whole class." Professor Umbridge's voice was deadly quiet. And with that threat hanging in the air, books opened, and heads turned downwards towards the page. I could barely stay focused on the chapter, but I somehow managed, flipping through page after dull page, finally reaching chapter two, and shut my book with a snap, two seconds before the bell rang, signaling the next class, which was my first Divination. I had decided on Divination, mainly because Harry had claimed, while incredibly dull, it was much easier than any of the other electives.

"See you later man," Percy punched my shoulder lightly as we got out of the classroom. I glanced at Theo, who was rifling through his bag for something. "Yo, do you have Divination?" I asked, hoping he did.

"Yeah, I do. I don't think we'll ever actually make it up there, though. Seven floors, eight staircases, other side of the castle, and a ladder," Theo pulled out two small red bottles, and handed one to me, "here, drink this. It's a bit like those muggle energy drinks, but better." I glanced at it warily, but popped it open anyways, drinking it all in one gulp. It tasted horrible, like chewing on a flower, but I choked it down.

I closed my eyes, the passageway spinning. Twenty seconds later, I could see again. Everything was in more vibrant colors too.

"Eurgh, what where you trying to do, poison me?" I asked, sticking my tongue out and screwing up my face. Theo shrugged "would you rather fall down a flight of stairs? Come on."

I followed him through the castle, past painting after painting, finally reaching a stuffy, overheated room. The potion, as Theo had explained, only worked for about ten minutes, and then dumped you. When he had said it, I had privately wondered what 'dumped' meant, but now it was obviously clear.

I fell into an extremely comfortable armchair, close to the window, even though the fire probably could've given me energy, and exhaled deeply. An old bat predicting my death? Sounds fun.

* * *

Okay, so AN here. For some more seasoned all night readers, you'll be complaining, that's not what and all nighter is like. I was pulling from my first two experiences with all-nighters for this. Leo is no stranger to them, but he's just over jetlag, in a new country, studying at a school with an incredibly challenging curriculum. So, yeah. He's passing out, in a haze, and rather grumpy.

Sorry for the long wait between updates, I sort of forgot about this story :/


	7. Piper: The Man

Piper, Chapter Seven, The Man.

To say that I was not used to Hogwarts was an understatement. 'We've been here for two weeks now, why hadn't anything happened?' I thought as I buttered my toast. I was actually about as tired as Harry looked – that's what you get for putting off all your homework because I had been out talking with Jason in an old classroom. I was, frankly, surprised nobody had found us, not even Peeves, the school's poltergeist, who had taken a special interest in tormenting me.

Oh! And I need to call my dad. Hopefully, Leo can finish one of those Delta pads for me, so I can Skype him.

Hermione let out a huge gasp beside me, and flattened her newspaper down against the table to reveal a large photograph of Dolores Umbridge, smiling widely and blinking slowly at them from beneath the headline: **MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH INQUISITOR"**

"What's that?" I asked curiously. Thalia leaned in from Hermione's other side. "What does that mean?" Hermione asked, and then read aloud: _"In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. _

" '_The Minister has been growing uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts for some time,' said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. 'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.' "This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the Wizarding school. As recently as August 30th Educational Decree Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person. _

" '_That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so the Minister put in Umbridge and of course, she's been an immediate success —' " _

"She's been a WHAT?" said Harry loudly. "Wait, there's more," said Hermione grimly as I sent a worried look to Thalia. _" '— an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.' _

"_It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Twenty-three, which creates the new position of 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor.' _

" '_This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the "falling standards" at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted.' _

"_The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts. " 'I feel much easier in my mind now that I know that Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,' said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night. 'Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and will be glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation.' _

"_Among those 'eccentric decisions' are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the hiring of werewolf Remus Lupin, half giant Rubeus Hagrid, and delusional ex-Auror 'Mad-Eye' Moody. _

"_Rumors abound, of course, that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, is no longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts. _

" '_I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step toward ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose confidence,' said a Ministry insider last night. _

"_Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts. _

_" 'Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office,' said Madam Marchbanks. 'This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore.' (For a full account of Madam Marchbanks' alleged links to subversive goblin groups, turn to page 17)."_ Hermione finished reading and glanced around the table.

"Well . . . . fuck," Thalia supplied, setting her fork down with a clank.

"So now we know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge passed this 'Educational Decree' and forced her on us! And now he's given her the power to inspect other teachers!" Hermione was breathing fast and her eyes were very bright. "I can't believe this. It's outrageous. . . ."

"I know it is," said Harry. But a grin was unfurling on Ron's face. "What?" said Harry and Hermione together, all of us staring at him. "Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected," said Ron happily. "Umbridge won't know what's hit her."

"Well, come on," said Hermione, jumping up, "we'd better get going if she's inspecting Binns' class we don't want to be late. . . ."

But Professor Umbridge was not inspecting their History of Magic lesson, which was just as dull as the previous Monday, nor was she in Snape's dungeon when they arrived for double Potions, where Professor Snape handed me my moonstone essay was handed back to me with a black spiky A scrawled in the corner. I glanced at Thalia's, which had a D scrawled in an upper corner.

"I have awarded you the grades you would have received if you presented this work in your O.W.L," said Snape with a smirk, as he swept among them, passing back their homework. "This should give you a realistic idea of what to expect in your examination." Snape reached the front of the class and turned to face them.

"The general standard of this homework was abysmal. Most of you would have failed had this been your examination. I expect to see a great deal more effort for this week's essay on the various varieties of venom antidotes, or I shall have to start handing out detentions to those dunces who get D's."

He smirked as Malfoy sniggered and said in a carrying whisper, "Some people got D's? Ha!" god, I hated that boy. Ever since he was asked if I was half-blood, he had since continued with jokes of the same merit.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as last week, was it?" said Hermione, as they climbed the steps out of the dungeon and made their way across the entrance hall toward lunch. "And the homework didn't go too badly either, did it?"

When none of us answered, she pressed on, "I mean, all right, I didn't expect the top grade, not if he's marking to O.W.L. standard, but a pass is quite encouraging at this stage, wouldn't you say?"

"It was alright, I guess. He doesn't hate me, apparently," I said with a shrug.

Harry made a noncommittal noise in his throat. "Of course, a lot can happen between now and the exam, we've got plenty of time to improve, but the grades we're getting now are a sort of baseline, aren't they? Something we can build on . . ."

They sat down together at the Gryffindor table. "Obviously, I'd have been thrilled if I'd gotten an O —" "Hermione," said Ron sharply, "if you want to know what grades we got, ask."

"I don't — I didn't mean — well if you want to tell me —"

"I got a P," said Ron, ladling soup into his bowl. "Happy?"

"Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of," said Fred, who had just arrived at the table with George and Lee Jordan and was sitting down on Harry's right. "Nothing wrong with a good healthy P."

"But," said Hermione, "doesn't P stand for . . ."

" 'Poor,' yeah," said Lee Jordan. "Still, better than D, isn't it? 'Dreadful'?"

Harry began to blush, and Thalia glared daggers at the seventh year boy.

"I got a D," she growled, and Lee shut his half-open mouth.

"So top grade's O for 'Outstanding,' " Hermione said, "and then there's A —"

"No, E," George corrected her, "E for 'Exceeds Expectations.' And I've always thought Fred and I should've got E in everything because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams." They all laughed except Hermione, who plowed on, "So after E, it's A for 'Acceptable,' and that's the last pass grade, isn't it?"

"Yep," said Fred, dunking an entire roll in his soup, transferring it to his mouth, and swallowing it whole.

"Then you get P for 'Poor' " — Ron raised both his arms in mock celebration — "and D for 'Dreadful.' "

"And then T," George reminded him. "T?" asked Hermione, looking appalled. "Even lower than a D? What on earth does that stand for?"

" 'Troll', " said George promptly, making me laugh.

"You lot had an inspected lesson yet?" Fred asked them.

"No," said Hermione at once, "have you?"

"Just now, before lunch," said George. "Charms."

"What was it like?" Thalia and Hermione asked together.

Fred shrugged. "Not that bad. Umbridge just lurked in the corner making notes on a clipboard. You know what Flitwick's like, he treated her like a guest, didn't seem to bother him at all. She didn't say much. Asked Alicia a couple of questions about what the classes are normally like, Alicia told her they were really good, that was it."

"I can't see old Flitwick getting marked down," said George, "he usually gets everyone through their exams alright."

"Who've you got this afternoon?" Fred asked Harry.

"Trelawney —"

"A T if ever I saw one —"

"— and Umbridge herself."

"Well, be a good boy and keep your temper with Umbridge today," said George to Harry. "Angelina'll do her nut if you miss any more Quidditch practices."

Of course, none of us had to wait for DADA to see Professor Umbridge. (Well, other then Lou Ellen, who had refused to take a fraud seer class and had opted for Math instead. As Thalia was pulling out her dream diary, I elbowed her, as I saw Professor Umbridge's toad face emerging from the trap door.

The class, which had been talking cheerily, fell silent at once. The abrupt fall in the noise level made Professor Trelawney, who had been wafting about handing out Dream Oracles, look round.

"Good afternoon, Professor Trelawney," said Professor Umbridge with her wide smile. "You received my note, I trust? Giving the time and date of your inspection?"

Professor Trelawney nodded curtly and, looking very disgruntled, turned her back on Professor Umbridge and continued to give out books. Still smiling, Professor Umbridge grasped the back of the nearest armchair and pulled it to the front of the class so that it was a few inches behind Professor Trelawney's seat. She then sat down, took her clipboard from her flowery bag, and looked up expectantly, waiting for the class to begin.

Professor Trelawney pulled her shawls tight about her with slightly trembling hands and surveyed the class through her hugely magnifying lenses. "We shall be continuing our study of prophetic dreams today," she said in a brave attempt at her usual mystic tones though her voice shook slightly. "Divide into pairs, please, and interpret each other's latest nighttime visions with the aid of the Oracle."

She made as though to sweep back to her seat, saw Professor Umbridge sitting right beside it, and immediately veered left toward Parvati and Lavender, who were already deep in discussion about Parvati's most recent dream.

I opened my copy of The Dream Oracle with a sigh. I watched Professor Umbridge out of the corner of my eye.

"Think of a dream, quick, in case, she comes our way," I hissed to Thalia. She shrugged. "I did actually have a dream last night. I was in Montana with the H's," she began. We had agreed to call the Hunters the 'H's' as to not arouse suspicion. "And Aunt Arty was leading the group, Pheobe behind her. Suddenly this group of Telkhines jumps out of nowhere and they were everywhere, and it looked as if they were losing the battle."

I wrote it all down quickly and looked at Thalia expectantly. "And then what happened?" I asked, curious.

"And then you spilled water all over me and I woke up," she complained, staring daggers at me. After a moment, she relaxed and gave a small laugh, and I chuckled. Thalia nodded behind her, where Professor Umbridge and Professor Trelawney were as I began to scribble down and flip through my book, trying to listen to what Umbridge was saying to Professor Trelawney. They were only two tables away from Thalia and I. Professor Umbridge was making another note on her clipboard and Professor Trelawney was looking extremely put out.

"Now," said Umbridge, looking up at Trelawney, "you've been in this post how long, exactly?"

Professor Trelawney scowled at her, arms crossed and shoulders hunched as though wishing to protect herself as much as possible from the indignity of the inspection. After a slight pause in which she seemed to decide that the question was not so offensive that she could reasonably ignore it, she said in a deeply resentful tone, "Nearly sixteen years."

"Quite a period," said Professor Umbridge, making a note on her clipboard. "So it was Professor Dumbledore who appointed you?"

"That's right," said Professor Trelawney shortly.

Professor Umbridge made another note. "And you are a great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Seer Cassandra Trelawney?"

"Yes," said Professor Trelawney, holding her head a little higher. Another note on the clipboard.

"But I think — correct me if I am mistaken — that you are the first in your family since Cassandra to be possessed of second sight?"

"These things often skip — er — three generations," said Professor Trelawney.

Professor Umbridge's toadlike smile widened. "Of course," she said sweetly, making yet another note. "Well, if you could just predict something for me, then?"

She looked up inquiringly, still smiling. Professor Trelawney had stiffened as though unable to believe her ears.

"I don't understand you," said Professor Trelawney, clutching convulsively at the shawl around her thin neck.

"I'd like you to make a prediction for me," said Professor Umbridge very clearly.

Thalia now was flipping listlessly between the pages, not even pretending to be working as she was turned away from the pair.

Thalia and I were not the only people watching and listening sneakily from behind their books now; most of the class were staring transfixed at Professor Trelawney as she drew herself up to her full height, her beads and bangles clinking.

"The Inner Eye does not See upon command!" she said in scandalized tones. "I see," said Professor Umbridge softly, making yet another note on her clipboard.

"I — but — but . . . wait!" said Professor Trelawney suddenly, in an attempt at her usual ethereal voice, though the mystical effect was ruined somewhat by the way it was shaking with anger. "I . . . I think I do see something . . . something that concerns you. . . . Why, I sense something . . . something dark . . . some grave peril . . ."

Professor Trelawney pointed a shaking finger at Professor Umbridge who continued to smile blandly at her, eyebrows raised. "I am afraid . . . I am afraid that you are in grave danger!" Professor Trelawney finished dramatically.

There was a pause. Professor Umbridge's eyebrows were still raised. "Right," she said softly, scribbling on her clipboard once more. "Well, if that's really the best you can do . . ."

She turned away, leaving Professor Trelawney standing rooted to the spot, her chest heaving.

I felt bad for the poor woman, that was at least until she reached our table and foretold that all of my dreams foretold terrible omens, death, and so on. They probably did – demigod dreams are never good, but she did this at every table, proclaiming and snapping at students.

Next Thalia and I had Care of Magical Creatures. Sadly, we missed Harry and Hermione's outbreak again, which sounded to be quite spectacular.

As we studied Nifflers (apparently something everybody had learned about last year but had not bothered to inform Professor Grubbly Plank about,) Thalia and I hanging back.

"It's hard to protect him. And we don't even know what we're defending from. Well, magic obviously but still we're not with him at all times. And Jason isn't even in the same dorm as him. What are we even doing here?" she hissed into my ear as I scribbled down notes – or, at least, pretended to, I was actually doodling Jason riding Tempest.

I shrugged. "I think dealing with her should be the main goal for us. She's going to be taking over this school as much as she can, and she keeps on doling out detentions to Harry. Also, if she finds out . . . . well . . . ." my whisper trailed off, and I got lost in a thought.

"She hates half-breeds. Imagine what she'd do to us." Thalia hissed. I didn't reply, as my mind spun around the possibilities that were forming in my head. A slow smile grew upon my face.

"I have an idea." I said, and Thalia grinned at the look on my face.

* * *

**A/N:** Let me just explain the P.O.V's real quick. The main POV's are Piper, Leo, Lou, Hermione, and Annabeth. They will mainly have their own chapters, unless one of the minor POV's come into play, that being Percy &amp; Nico, who will only really be used to establish plot lines or continue the story, essentially if I get writers block I can fall back to advance the story. I don't like doing it, but it's a good fail-safe. I doubt they'll get their own chapters. So far, none of the HP characters apart from Hermione will have a POV, and Jason and Thalia I probably won't incorporate their POV's in. If there's a request for any certain POV I'll make the chapter after the one I'm working on whatever you requested.

This is only about 3K but I sliced off some of this chapter and added to the next. Next chapter is Lou! I have some plans for her :D she's going to be my little side plot for now.

SPECIAL THANKS TO RangerLyra for reviewing! I remember why I didn't update before, I promised myself as soon as somebody reviewed chapter five I would update but nobody did so I just forgot about it :/ but I have yet again adopted the mentality, at least for this chapter! Shout outs to all of the people following and favoriting my story! Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Lou: I Walk the Line

A/N: This involves a lot of lore about Hecate, that isn't necessarily canon. If anybody has more canon info and good sourcing, PM me or leave a review, I tried my best to stay true to what Hecate appears to be in the books and what I could dig up via the internet, but both aren't necessarily reliable sources

* * *

Lou, Chapter Eight. I Walk the Line

My feet pounded against the path, the cool September air doing nothing to cool down my face as I sped along the path outside of Hogwarts. Two weeks into the school term, and I still had no idea what I was doing here. Sure, I fit in here just fine, but why was I chosen to come?

To catch the others up on magic, to accelerate their learning? That was already done, the seven of them were at the required level of learning. In fact, they all seemed to have found their niche. I think the sorting hat did a rather splendid job. But I still didn't understand it. I had only been on two quests before, the rest of them had saved the world, at least once each too. I wasn't fitting in like them at Hogwarts, despite my upbringing. I was just, weird I guess. Chiron had said we all had a special purpose at school.

What was mine? My mist powers? My magic? What? It certainly wasn't because of anything I could do talent wise, it was almost definitely my powers.

Harry had admittedly been having a hard time, but he had had all of us on his side, and Jason was by his side the most, seeing as they were in the same house, and Jason had taken quite an interest in Quidditch.

I turned down a sloping lawn, and ended up on the Quidditch pitch. Several small figures flew above me, practicing. I could hear a girl shouting out orders, and I smiled, realizing it was the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Jason was probably with them too. Though admittedly I would never play the sport, I was very vested in it. I had even gone to the world cup last year.

I wasn't scared of heights, but I was certainly scared of falling off a broom, which I had done more then a few times. Zeus had never really liked me, especially not since I did that favor for Hera, which didn't exactly look good for him. (That's a long story).

I ran around the edge of the Quidditch pitch at a slow jog, collecting myself. I was lost in thought when I collided with somebody head first. Something hit me in the stomach, hard, and I went sprawling, my knees scraping against the grass as I slid several feet. I almost certainly had friction burns now.

When I finally managed to stop myself, I flipped around, wondering who could've been going so fast and what had hit me, when I discovered a Weasley twin, his broom and beaters bat sprawled across the lawn, far out of reach, him laying on the ground, wincing.

"Bloody hell," He muttered, checking his knee, moving it back and forth as he winced.

I swore a bit in Greek, and standing up shakily I walked over to him. "Thanks for hitting me with your broom, I totally needed a cool off," I said sarcastically, crouching down next to him, which hurt like hell. I couldn't cast a healing spell – I didn't have my wand to cover it up and no way could I do non-wand magic as a fifth year.

"Oh you're very welcome, it was nice to slow down I was going much to fast," he replied in the same tone. I took a seat on the turf, studying my own wounds.

"Are you guys okay?" the team had landed, and where striding towards us, Angelia, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in the lead.

"Nothing too serious, just some scraped knees and ar . . . . look at your legs!" I glanced down as to where the twin (who I suspect was George,) was staring, and glanced down at my own knees. George, who had just gone flying through the air, and had full-length pants and protective wear on, was fine, but I had slid about fifteen feet with mostly bare legs. My legs were bleeding, profusely.

"Oh joy, only the fifth time this year," I muttered, quiet enough that nobody had heard me.

"Fred, help Lou to the hospital wing. George, you go too, I want you checked out," Angelia ordered. Ah, so it was George. Jason sent me a panicked look and opened his mouth – probably to volunteer to come with me, but I shook my head at him.

Fred helped me up. I tried to stand, but it didn't work so well, so Fred ended up supporting me all the way to the hospital. "Well Freddie, there's one way to get a girl to grab on," George joked, limping a little as we entered through the hospital wing doors.

"Shut up George," Fred said, setting me down on the bed. The nurse came rushing over. "Oh dear, what happened!" she said, gasping at my legs.

"Somebody decided running into joggers whilst on broomsticks was a good idea. Slid fifteen feet," I explained, wincing as she ran a wand over my cuts.

"Lie down on the bed, I'll be right back," She ordered, disappearing into another room.

I swung my legs onto the bed and leaned back against the metal frame, my eyes closing momentarily.

George sat next to me in his bed, apparently comfortable, and Fred had left whilst I was talking to the nurse. The nurse came back a moment later, placing a salve on my legs. She then looked over George, and with a tsk tsk she said his knee needed a cooling pad and he'd be fine, apparently he'd hurt it earlier in the week, and wasn't supposed to do any running or the like.

A moment later, Leo burst into the Hospital wing, while the nurse, Madam Pomfrey, was in the back, searching for her box of muggle healing things. "Are you okay?" he asked, coming to stand by my bed. I rolled my eyes, "I'm fine flame boy. Just a tumble. Happens all the time."

"Fred said your legs looked like somebody had used a cheese grater on them!" Leo exclaimed, glancing down at my legs and bloodied sheets, the pinkish salve covering the wounds. "Why didn't you just, y'know heal them up?" Leo asked in a soft voice.

I glanced to the bed next to me, where George was laying, trying to gauge if he was asleep or faking. He seemed to be asleep.

"If my mother was your mother, you would be dead by now," I scoffed "I didn't have my wand. Despite popular belief, Fred and George are _not_ idiots. Did you see that prank they pulled last Sunday? And all of the items their marketing? That took serious brain power and creativity. If I did no wand magic, George would know something was up. A sixteen-year-old, with that kind of power? Please, they'd be all over it in a second. They know about us, but not about me.

"Do you want me to blow my cover? Do you know what happened to the last one of my kind that was exposed to the Wizarding world?" I hissed, eyes practically slits.

"What, do you mean a half-blood?" Leo asked, still not grasping what I was trying to say.

I hit him on the back of the head, making him wince. "I'm not like the rest of you. Sure, Jason may be the most powerful demigod in eighty years, but me and my siblings . . . . we're incredibly powerful, and no other half-blood has powers like us. There are so few of us, we're picked out by an early age, we reek of magic to the monsters, like Percy does now, but when we're children, when we're too young to defend ourselves. And on top of that, there weren't many of us to start with, my mom is . . . . hard to impress."

Before I could continue, Madam Pomfrey came back out, holding a violent blue cold compress. She shook George awake and gave it to him, ordering him to use it for an hour, at least, every day. He left, with one backwards glance towards Leo and I.

Leo stayed with me whilst Madam Pomfrey completed healing my wounds. When we left the Hospital Wing, I dragged him to the dining hall, starving for food. Then, we separated, Leo to go work on his tablet, and me to tackle the large mountain of homework I had with Piper and Thalia.

One of the sixth years told us that on the seventh floor was study rooms – old unused classrooms turned into small spaces to study in peace. Of course, to achieve peace, it was in the farthest corner of the castle away from everything.

The Gryffindor common room was filled with people bustling and talking. It was a Thursday night, but as Lou had found, everything in Gryffindor was party 24/7.

With a sigh, Lou snapped her book shut and pushed it over to Jason, who really wasn't paying attention, instead talking to his fellow teammates on the Quidditch team. "Watch this," Lou said, but she doubted Jason had heard. She resisted the urge to give an exasperated sigh and quickly ducked out of the portrait hole. She wandered down the hall and aimlessly around the castle, figuring she would find a ghost or prefect to direct her back if she lost her way.

She truly didn't feel as if she fit anywhere here. Leo checked up on her the most frequently, making an effort to include her in most conversations, and Lou suspected he was either nursing a crush or felt pity towards her.

"You know, I didn't take you as the type to be out after curfew." A voice said from behind me. I hadn't noticed whoever it was, but my reactions were lightning quick, reflexes. My arm went to elbow the perpetrator in the chest, but my hand was caught by none other then a Weasley twin.

"Whoa there, let's not break some ribs there," He said. His reflexes were lightning fast, especially for a mortal.

"Sorry. Reflexes." I replied, lowering my arm with what I hoped as an amicable smile.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing so far from the common room this late at night? Myself, I was mailing a letter." He said in a casual tone, but his eyes held a hint of curiosity.

"I just needed to get out. Too many people at once, it overcrowds me." I said.

"Well, I can walk you back if you want." The glint in his eye was stronger, and it made me feel uneasy. Had he, perhaps, just maybe, heard the conversation between Leo and I not to long ago? Apparently I wasn't as good as hiding my emotions as I thought, as the boy laughed.

"Relax. I don't bite." I gave a small smile and nodded, and he started at a slow, easy pace down the hall.

"Sorry, I'm still new here. Which twin are you?" I asked, slightly ashamed. It was better than calling him the wrong name though I supposed.

"I'm George. Thanks for asking, most people don't bother and just guess. I mean, it's a 50/50 chance, but we really are identical. No magic moles, no different smiles. Fred and I, we're carbon copies of each other." George said, and I smiled tentatively.

"Sometimes I wish I had a twin. It sounds like fun, but double the risk double the reward I suppose." I said, brushing my hair out of my face with one hand. By that, I meant that it was twice as likely that we would be killed, but George didn't need to know that.

"It's a bit of both either way," George said with a laugh. He glanced at my wrist. "That's a cool tattoo."

I pulled my sleeve up to reveal my tattoo, which was a double infinity sign with Greek lettering around it. "Thanks."

"Double infinity, does it have significance?" George asked curiously as we continued down the hallway.

"Yes, it signifies my mother and how my life is intertwined with hers," I said studying the double infinity on my wrist. It wasn't my mothers usual symbol, but I had promised my life to hers as a sign of respect. It wouldn't do much until I was dead.

"Do all of the people in your group have them?" He asked casually, the double meaning easily being caught by me. He meant demigods.

I pulled my sleeve down. "No," I said shortly. We walked for a few moments longer before I continued. "They don't need to show such devotion. As strange a notion as it is, most of their parents don't give a flying fuck about their children. They have a lot of them, or they have their own things to worry about. Plus, most of them can't show favoritism. Creates a lot of problems," I paused for a moment, considering my next words carefully "and wars. Lots of wars."

"My mother though, she's not generally like the others. All of our skills need honing, learning. But it's not always innate. We need teaching, tuning, honing, hours upon hours of practice. The same goes for punches and kicks and flying. We need to learn, so my mother has to interfere at some point, usually by the time we find our way to her. And, most of her children died in the war. There are few of us left.

"Most of us have promised ourselves in one way or another, depending on how we met her it entirely changes. Some people simply give gifts, an expectation from all of the children, no matter what parent. Some people have to give more." My hand went to touch my eye, almost subconsciously.

My stomach gurgled, and I remembered skipping dinner. "I don't suppose we can stop by somewhere to get some food?" I asked hopefully.

George nodded. We turned abruptly and headed down a staircase. There was a moment of silence as George collected his thoughts. "Thanks for explaining it," George said as we headed down staircase after staircase.

"Yeah, sure. Not a lot of people ask, so I don't mind every once in a while."

"It kind of sounds like it sucks," George said, and I glanced over at him. "Sure, my mom can be annoying, pesky, nosy, overbearing . . . you get the idea. But she still cares about and loves us. She knits us sweaters, makes us fudge, and is always there when we come for help. The love is always there, and for your parents, it just seems like, they wouldn't even come to your funeral, let alone cry." George said.

I paused. We stopped in front of a painting, and George reached up and tickled a pear in it. It giggled, and a doorknob appeared. He moved to open it but I stayed his hand for a moment, our eyes meeting. "Our parents still love us," I told him.

"In what way? From what you say, they barely show a gram of love towards you." George scoffed.

"They show us a lot more than that. They don't let us die." I said. With that, I pulled the door open and walked inside.

I think at that moment, George realized just how different we were. As I turned to glance at him there was a strange look in his eyes. It wasn't fear, pity, nor hate. The reaction was a mixture of too many emotions for me to really pick something out.

A bunch of house-elves came up to us and I ordered a plate of food and a drink. George ordered two bowls of ice cream. We sat down next to each other and our food was promptly served. I reached for one of the bowls of ice cream and George swatted my hand away.

"Those are for me!" He claimed.

"Both of them?" I asked, quirking a single eyebrow, a talent that had taken me a month to master.

"Yes," he said defensively, pulling them both close and digging into one with a spoon.

"Why not one big bowl?" I asked for a laugh as I took a sip of my water.

"One bowl for now, one bowl for in ten minutes." George supplied. "And I like my ice cream non-melted."

I laughed. "You sound like my friend, Cecil." I smiled as I remembered last summer as Cecil, Miranda, and I had made strawberry ice cream, and Cecil giving me all of his because it was a little melty.

"Boyfriend or just friend?" George asked, taking another bite of ice cream.

I choked on my ice cream and then proceeded to laugh as I gasped for breath. George thumped my back. "Me? Cecil? Ha!" I choked out.

"I take that's a no," he said with a smile.

"Yes. Cecil's ace anyways, but even if he wasn't the two of us in a relationship would be a disaster." I said, laughing.*

George needed in understanding. "So, tell me. Is there a big culture shock?"

I shrugged. "Not necessarily. I'm not the most connected person, most half-bloods don't use mobile devices, just because it attracts monsters. A lot of kids have them at camp anyways, but most don't risk it outside, in the mortal world. I also live mainly in places with largely half-blood concentrations, so even when I'm traveling we try to limit the use of them. And on top of that, I'm used to wizards. I was even at the World Cup last year." I supplied, and started to shovel food in my mouth, realizing how hungry I was as I watched George demolish his first ice cream.

"So . . ." George began, and swallowed. "It was kind of like here, but like fifteen years ago. They hadn't figured out how electronics worked. Some still don't even know how elevators work." George supplied.

"Well, neither do I for that matter. I know there are a lot of cables, from movies." I supplied, cocking my head.

George laughed. "My dad, you met him at the house, remember? He's a bit infatuated with everything muggle, so I know a lot like stuff like that."

I laughed. "Yes, he and Leo got along swell, Leo _loves_ talking about stuff like that. Did you hear their conversation about the squeakers in dog toys?"

* * *

We continued to talk for another hour, our food long forgotten as we sat cross-legged on the benches. I tucked my legs underneath me easily, but George had trouble with his long legs. If I had to wager, he was 6'0 or 6'1 **. We didn't even consider leaving until Dobby, a house elf George apparently knew, asked us to leave as the House Elves had to start cleaning. We left in high spirits and headed towards the Gryffindor common room. I had learned a lot about George's life growing up with five brothers and a sister in a little house. He told me about the best pranks he and Fred had pulled over the years. We planned to prank some of the Slytherin's some time before Halloween, as he had learned more about Cecil and his siblings, the more confident he had become in my pranking abilities.

I liked to think I was good, but I might consult Cecil before I did anything rash. Just before we reached the common room Annabeth appeared after having run down the hallway. "Lou! Come with us, we're all meeting up in front of Ravenclaw tower there's an emergency meeting."

I nodded to Annabeth and turned to George. "Duty calls," I said with the shrug of my shoulders and a small smirk.

"Ah, and I hear some opportunities calling from some gullible third years. See you later Lou." George laughed, his brown eyes dancing. He turned and continued down the hallway towards the Fat Lady.

As I followed Annabeth down the hallway a smile refused to leave my face. I had finally made friends on my own, in a completely foreign environment. Okay, maybe it was one friend. But it was a start. I had come to camp young, practically spent all the summers in my memory there. I hadn't always been the best at socializing, but I had been working on it.

And as we climbed a staircase, I felt as if I was walking on air, because maybe, just maybe, I liked socializing.

* * *

*This is just a headcanon of mine, if you don't like Cecil being ace just ignore it, it's not going to be some major plot device.

** I know the Phelps brothers are 6'3 but George and Fred haven't quite grown to their full height.

A/N: Thanks to all of the people who reviewed, favorited, and followed since last time I updated! It means a lot! I'll try and write the next chapter within the next month, but I may forget (honestly, I do that more then I care to admit). Hope you enjoyed, and please review!


	9. Annabeth: Foreign Fields

Annabeth, Chapter Nine. Foreign Fields.

I was kind of ashamed I hadn't thought of it first. Piper had approached the headmaster and reminded him about the space we had requested to work in, and then requested extra materials to use, tables, etc etc. Then Percy got some Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors to help put the rooms we requested together in the roughest of senses, moving the furniture in and all that, whilst some Ravenclaws (Justin to be exact,) worked on making a spell that could be turned on and off and set on a current room. It wasn't as if the two switched out of realities, it simply moved you, but it would only work in that room.

Then Justin had set the spell up with surprising ease, and Piper had constructed a plot to have both Thalia and Nico bring Gryffindor's and Slytherin up to the room. The Slytherin caught sight of the Gryffindor going into the room, but couldn't follow them, and couldn't hear what they were doing (which was listening to Taylor Swift,) which left them puzzled and detained long enough for some of the other demigods to sneak into their dorms without notice to retrieve the worrying weapons stash Nico had, and Piper had perfectly constructed all four houses to work together to Piper's advantage.

I wasn't ashamed, that was a lie. I was proud that Piper had come so far. I had never doubted Piper's abilities, but she was exceeding everybody's expectations.

Nico herded the Slytherins back to their common rooms, with help from Piper of course, and Thalia took the Gryffindors to party somewhere else, giving us enough time to track everybody down and find them. Jason had been easy enough to find once they tracked down me and Leo in the common room. Lou however was harder to find so, of course, they sent me out again, with Jason going to discreetly collect Harry (and possibly Ron and Hermione as well).

I had gone around the castle as much as I could. I started in the Gryffindor common room and did a quick loop of all the places Lou knew about. I knew the night was dragging on and losing time, so I desperately looped back up the Gryffindor common room, where I finally found Lou, talking to one of the Weasley twins of all people just outside the entrance hole.

On the way there I quickly explained we were not actually going to the Ravenclaw cover room, but it had been a good cover.

I pulled her away quickly and we made our way towards the room. By the time we got there, everybody else was waiting. It had tall ceilings and gothic arched windows that let in the moonlight, something I liked. Uplight chandeliers hung from the ceiling holding real candles, but they were bright enough to light the whole room, so it was most likely magic.

As I had suspected, not just Harry, but Ron and Hermione had joined the cast as well, sitting on the floor with their legs crossed along with the other demigods.

"Sorry, I was in the kitchens," Lou apologized. Her eyes, which I noted were now ice blue, were sparkling as she took a seat. Harry looked at me expectantly, but I motioned to Piper and sat down next to Lou.

Piper stood up. Yet again, I couldn't help but take notice of how she effortlessly dressed. She was wearing a simple pair of gray leggings and pink ballet flats, paired with a grey and pink sweater that proclaimed _Dream_ in large letters, the colors matching perfectly with her other clothes. Her hair had grown out since our trek to Greece and now hung in loose curls past her shoulders.

"I have a plan," Piper stated rather smugly.

"Oh is that why I was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night? I thought it was to talk about heart-healthy gummy vitamins," Leo remarked snidely.

"Shut up Repair Boy," Piper replied easily.

"So, what is this place?" Ron asked.

"It's two things. This room, which is a study room. Well, it will be, we couldn't find any suitable seating on such short notice." Piper motioned around. Bookcases adorned the tall walls, filled to the brim with books of all sorts from god knows where. A few tables were already set up and there were different workstations. I could even see Leo had brought in some of his Delta Pads. It was cool, but it wasn't worth dragging everybody out of bed for this late at night. Or at least, that was my consensus.

"And this is what we brought you here for." Piper gave a wave of her wand as well as a spell, and the room dematerialized around us. We were no longer sitting on the floor of a plushy carpeted library but were now in what I had expected of the other demigods.

The floor was concrete, and it was much larger than the other room, or perhaps it was just devoid of decorations. One side of the room was set up with open space to spar and many miscellaneous weapons that had been pulled out of Nico's well-foreseen stash. The other half of the room was covered with tables yet again, but desks had been already set up with plans. Apparently, Leo's Hermes delivery had given more than just Celestial Bronze and his old schematics - he had computers already set up, monitors blinking. The cameras were unfocused. A few whiteboards had been pulled in, and one was already drawing up designs for something, which looked like a calling device from my quick glance (and the name hastily scribbled in the corner in Leo's childlike scrawl).

"What is all this?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"Umbridge expects you to act out," Piper said smugly, "she expects you to be untrained, but dangerous. We're going to fix all of that. You are going to be the perfect model students. No matter how she baits you, you will follow the rules. And then, when the time comes, if it comes, you'll be trained. We can train you to fight hand to hand – she won't be expecting that - and Lou can teach you all magically, she's much more advanced than you. . ." with that, Piper launched into a long explanation.

There was going to be a buddy system. Apart from Nico, who was a fourth year, we were all in the same year as Harry, and covering three houses. The plan developed as the night went on. We all covered his classes, as there were so many of us. One of us would cover him at all times, a bodyguard sort of method, if he wasn't with Ron and Hermione (and even then, but he was safer with them than on his own). This was helped by the fact Jason was on the Quidditch team, which covered Harry's extracurricular activities.

Harry wasn't so keen on the idea of being guarded, but he eventually succumbed to the idea after some reasoning from Piper and I. We were still going to teach him to fight, but the fact was we had years of experience. Training him, even if we had the rest of the school year, wasn't going to give him the same reflexes we naturally had, along with years of life or death situations. He would not be sitting by idly, nor would he be putting himself at extreme risk.

Soon after, the three wizards left and us demigods convened after we reworked the silencing charms cast around the room.

Each of us were going to be eyes and ears within each house. Nico especially, as Harrys greatest peer rival was a boy named Draco Malfoy, who had had a few nasty run-ins already with Piper and Leo. He hadn't enough gall to try and attack the rest of us, yet, as Piper and Leo certainly looked the least threatening out of the group. Nico would ingratiate himself with the older boys group after a *staged* fight with his fellow exchange student's tomorrow at breakfast.

Lou and Thalia would take the forefront when it came to teaching fighting. Thalia had traveled with the Hunters for several years, and despite both Percy's and Jason's talents, they begrudgingly agreed Thalia had more knowledge of hand-to-hand combat without weapons, as she threatened to judo flipped Percy right across the table when he suggested she didn't, much as I had done in New Rome. That seemed like ages ago. It was ages ago, I suppose.

Leo and I were set to work on all sorts of tech for this mission. We needed more tech. It was still a bit of the sore spot in the magical community amongst adults, much like mortal adults, fumbled at it. The Delta Pads (or DP as we were going to call them amongst prying eyes and ears) were going to be monumental in helping with this. Leo was working on downsizing them to be big enough to fit in the pockets of the robes at school easily instead of being the size of an Ipad. That way, if any of us had an emergency we could easily communicate with each other.

Piper was here to schmooze her way through any possible hiccups we had in the plan with teachers, because as we have learned, there always are hiccups.

Jason and Percy were the main bodyguards, as they both covered the most classes due to schedule changes. Jason also covered Quidditch, so both of them would buddy up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and seeing as both of them were the best fighters (despite Thalia's protests about hand-to-hand combat) it made sense to give them the brunt of the protecting job.

Percy was also going to teach the three of them how to fly under the radar. I wasn't sure he was the best choice, but it couldn't hurt . . . much.

It was a plan that was finally falling into place. It made sense, theoretically anyways. As I fell into bed late into the night, fatigued as I did many nights, I recalled Chiron's words about this being an easy assignment. A laugh bubbled in my throat, but before it could truly burst out into hysterical laughter and wake my dorm mates up, I fell asleep out of pure exhaustion.

* * *

And, as it turned out, the first leg of the plan worked perfectly. Nico came into breakfast looking more stormy than usual, a letter clutched in hand. He then came to the Hufflepuff table, where we had been all sitting today, to yell at us, switching between Greek and English. Just enough English to make it clear he was unhappy and very angry about something serious, but mainly Greek so you couldn't actually tell what he was saying. Rather ingenious of him, I must admit.

Most of his words in Greek were nonsense, which couldn't stop Thalia and Percy from laughing. This only helped Nico's effort, as his cheeks darkened and his eyes turned deadly. He said, in a cold voice. "Don't ever talk to me again," and he left without another word.

Of course, it was fake but the real anger in his words left Percy looking shell-shocked and silent for the rest of breakfast, and the rest of us sat in a stony silence which followed the demigods for the rest of the day. Well, not me at least, but I faked it through the first period of the day before bouncing back to overachieving in my classes even more than Hermione Granger.

Well, maybe not overachieving more. Hermione and I were well matched, disregarding our fields of knowledge. I had eaten up everything I could learn about the wizarding world, and Hermione had suggested more than a few thrilling reads. Being muggleborn, she had grown up in the mortal world and had had the same culture shock as us entering this world and had taken her – our – natural defense, which was to read as much as we could get our hands on.

By the time dinner had rolled around, there were apparently rumors flying left and right. Nico sat near the Malfoy group, head downcast. The demigods ignored him, walking to their table. I glanced at Nico sympathetically. Maybe this was a bad idea. Nico had always felt like an outcast in our world, and forcing him to be a social outcast within his own group couldn't help.

Nico glanced up at me. "What do you want? Run along Ravenclaw."

His voice was cold. But I could see a little tic he had always gotten ever since I had first actually met him when I was with Percy, that little tic that he always got whenever he wasn't saying what he really meant. I closed my half open mouth and tucked my head down, moving forwards. Nico was fine. Or maybe he wasn't fine. I chided myself angrily as I sat down at the Ravenclaw table. I couldn't let my sympathy ruin our little plan, which had run smoothly through the first baby steps.

I sat down at my table, ready for food. I was starving, my fast metabolism wasn't always a blessing, and the fact I had somehow burned through the mountains of food I had had at lunch just by sitting.

I had taken a good chunk out of my plate and was enjoying a nice book before I was interrupted by a bunch of gossiping fourth-year girls, who were sitting a little ways down the table.

"Hey, Annabeth! Did you really sleep with Nico and then get pregnant and abort the baby?"

I stared at the girl who had the gall to ask me, her long frizzy hair tied up away from her face with barely held in barrettes. Her face was round and childish, and her glasses didn't quite fit her. In all, the only reason I could tell she was a fourth year was because of the notebook sat in front of her, which proudly proclaimed her year in blue and silver sharpie.

"Well?" she asked impatiently.

I swallowed my bite of mashed potatoes clearing my mouth and snapped my book shut. "That is absolutely preposterous," I told her. "First of all, no. Secondly, never. Third, I'm not a cheater. Fourth, I am in a happy relationship with Percy, and fifth I would not be stupid enough to have unprotected sex so I would never even be put in that situation anyways," I told them clearly.

"Hmm, cross that one off the list," she told her friends, flipping open her notebook and crossing off a line on one of the pages.

"There's a list?" I asked incredulously.

The girl laughed. "Of course there is! This school is so dull. Unless you're obsessed with Quidditch there's nothing interesting happening. A bunch of hot American upperclassmen saunter in? The whole school's been talking about you for weeks, well maybe like a week. Harry Potter has also been in the mix but he's being all boring this week so the school has been focusing on you! Well, at least the underclassmen. What did happen with Nico this morning?"

I stared at the girls in utter and complete shock as they watched me eagerly. An idea formed in my head. I glanced to the Gryffindor table where Jason and Piper sat together, talking animatedly. I then leaned towards the girls.

"Are you purebloods?" I asked the girls.

One of them raised their hand as if in class, but the others shook their heads. "Nico and Piper got in a fight. He's a pureblood, you know. Piper's muggleborn. Nico's parents were angry at him for talking with her sorts. He's not American you know, he's Italian. You know how uppity they can get about blood. The rest of us don't care, but his family is 'oh so pure' so I mean, of course, we brushed it off. He's cousins somehow with Jason, Thalia, and Percy on their father's sides, so I mean they brushed it off because they don't care about their dads opinions and ignore their orders, so when they started laughing at him he got really upset, they fought about it at lunch too it was huge I mean, really monumental. Nico's not talking to any of us now." I explained, not really bothering to lower my voice that much. The girls eyes sparkled.

"Now, if that's all I'm going to finish my food," I said, and then leaned back towards my plate, opened my book, and began to eat again.

Within a week of my little story, Nico had been accepted into Draco's group. The stories had been flying through school. Varying tales of varying ludicrously but they all held a general tone. Nico had either been thrown out or left due to a fight over blood. The people Nico usually sat with had started to regard him a little more coldly from what I had observed, and soon enough he stopped eating with them all together, where he was quickly picked up by Draco.

I knew it was factually impossible for a whole house to be much like Draco, and the stereotyped 'bad' wizards that emerged from that house, so I assumed that Nico's friends hadn't been that happy when my story got around school. Draco, however, had been more than ecstatic to welcome Nico into the group, making Nico even chime in when making fun of Harry and his friends, a daily torturous enjoyment of Draco's.

This was all confirmed within our first meeting at the new HQ. We had done a wonderful job, considering the time restraints. There were punching bags set from the ceiling on the training side, and a few sparse pieces of workout equipment, and some training dummy's, as well as Lou's small area, which was chalked out by faint lines on the floor.

The actual planning side of the area was mainly dominated by Leo and me, however. Leo's workstations were an absolute mess, but he could always find everything somehow. His computers were constantly flashing with news, information, schematics, and coding. There was also a monitor completely devoted to social media, numbers and words flashing across the screen at lightning speeds, doing what I couldn't quite tell but I could pick out a few words like 'facebook' and such, as well as a lot of hashtags.

My side was the complete opposite. Everything had a place. Whiteboards neatly held schematics and blackboards held plans and ideas, as well as the general plans we had mapped out on the first night after assembling this place. Tabletops each held separate products, and my singular computer which I had wrangled from Leo's grasps did just fine, running everything I needed. My side was the calm before the storm, and his side was the storm.

But, we didn't meet in there. We met in the library, which had been filled with plush old furniture. Jason had told Harry to come to the meeting, and to bring whoever he wanted as long as they knew about us – so pretty much any Weasley's he chose to wrangle up and Hermione.

As expected, Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked in, followed by the lanky Weasley twins and Lou, who immediately threw her robes off and set them over the edge of the chair, revealing normal clothes underneath. Or, what was considered normal for Lou anyways. A pair of burgundy combat boots were paired with ripped black skinny jeans, a shirt advertising a band I didn't know, and a faded green jacket, paired with dark near-black lips. It wasn't generally an outfit that made me look twice back home, but it certainly was here, in the drafty halls of a castle.

People filtered in from across the castle after doing various things, last of all Percy and Nico, who were laughing. Percy quickly sat by my side at the largest table, which we had designated as the meeting table, and we kissed quickly in greeting.

After a quick headcount it was obvious we had everybody, and Piper tapped her pen against the side of a vase that made a ringing sound just loud enough to quiet down the noise. That, and Thalia's yell of "SHUT UP!" also did the trick.

"Okay, sorry before we get to the conversation, who actually started this story about us falling out about blood purity?" Nico asked.

Everybody shrugged, but I lifted my chin slightly. "I did. Some Ravenclaw fourth years were telling me about how all the younger kids have been gossiping since the Harry storm died down for now, so I told them a plausible story, which they spread amongst the first years. I figured it wasn't like any of you were going to dispute it." I said confidently.

They nodded, and Percy squeezed my hand and grinned as if to say 'nice work'.

"So, you're not actually fighting?" Ron asked, looking confused.

Nico stared at Ron for a moment. "We're not even wizards. Why would we fall out over such a thing as your antiquated blood purity laws? Blood purity, hah!" Nico scoffed and muttered something under his breath, which I didn't quite catch.

Ron replied with an "oh," and his face flamed red.

"Don't worry little brother. It's not your fault, the two of us inherited all of the brains in the family before you could get your hands on them," one of the Weasley twins said, patting Ron on the back.

"Buzz off," Ron said, swatting their hand away. The two older boys gave delighted looks to each other and opened their mouths, to most likely torment their brother, but Lou who was sitting next to them reached over and gave the both of them a hard slap on the back of the head with the magazine she was reading.

"We're not here so you can torment your brother, do that in your free time. You came because you said you wanted to learn and you wanted to know what was going on. This isn't free period. This is serious," Lou said.

"Yeah, look at you guys! You look like somebody's about to die! We're here to lighten the mood!" One of the twins said happily.

The other one elbowed him with a sober look on his face, and the first twin glanced around the room. As did I. We did indeed look stone-faced and most definitely serious.

"Somebody may very well. It wouldn't be the first time." I stated. I left it at that and pulled the journal out of my book bag that proclaimed DIARY in large letters.

"Are we going to write about our feelings?" Leo asked.

I shot him a look. "A simple glamour from Lou, and a very complicated locking spell I found," I explained, and with a few quick spells from me the small journal turned into a large notebook twice the size of my head.

"We meet here on different days of the week. Those will be chosen at random, but they will take into account Quidditch of course." I added in quickly. "We need to keep it so in case anybody does try to follow us, it would be hard to predict where we go. We also can't just use this room late at night, that would also raise suspicion, so Percy and I will be studying in here every Thursday at least. If any teachers come sniffing around it looks like we just needed a place to study, which we do, if some of our grades are anything to go by."

"Jason will let you know," I said, directed mainly at the Weasley twins. "It won't look suspicious if he comes up and talks to you two, seeing as you're on the team together, and it's also a perfectly valid excuse to talk alone."

"Lou will cover magic, and then Thalia will cover most of the combat. All of us are skilled, but it's not things you generally need to learn as they won't apply to you. It doesn't make sense to use your wand as an honest to goodness weapon. You can remove some person's eyes with a spell faster than you can by gouging them in the eye with it, but you could certainly learn some general fighting," I explained. I then motioned to the others and set my book in the middle of the table. "It's all yours,"

Jason quickly took control, explaining the basics of what we wanted the wizards to learn. Apart from the twins, none of them knew how to throw a punch, based on just how they made a fist. There were explanations and questions after questions. Leo and I quietly disappeared after a while to work on the DP.

Despite all of the help we had, it was still a lot of work to downsize the Delta Pads to pocket size. We had several debates over how to do it and were in the middle of a heated argument when the others appeared, along with the wizards.

"If we just downsized the battery –" I said as I rubbed my forehead.

"If we downsized the battery we lose all of the power!" Leo fought back, a main point of his.

"Why not just put a shrinking spell on it?" Hermione asked.

I stared at her for a moment, the gears turning in my head. "Is it a permanent one?" I asked. She nodded, and I smiled. "Brilliant!" I exclaimed.

"You'll probably have to shrink them, you have more experience," I admitted as Leo and I made room for Hermione in between us.

And just like that, Hermione had become a part of our brood. We spent another hour or so shrinking the batteries to various sizes and comparing how they would fit within the phones. The shrinking process was not exact by any means and each phone would have to be constructed around it because of it. This made the process more tedious as we had to rewire all of the components for each phone individually, but it still saved us weeks of Leo and I fighting on the correct process.

The three of us were the last ones to leave. Hermione walked us to our common rooms so if we got caught we wouldn't get detention. (We had to tell her where it was first though. Apparently, inter-house mingling was usually frowned upon). Hermione changed when she was talking about magic and it's possible properties. Her eyes sparkled brightly, and her hands moved wildly. If possible, her hair grew even larger as if sparked by electricity.

I wasn't surprised she hung out with people who weren't as intellectually smart as her – I certainly didn't* – but I was surprised at how much energy she seemed to have pent up inside of her. She had seemed rather resigned and demure for most of the time I had seen her. But then again, we lived in different houses. I didn't find it hard to believe that she was that fierce and dedicated. I had just never seen her that way. If possible, it made me like her even more.

* * *

*This does not mean that the other demigods/wizards are not smart. This just means they are not _intellectually_ smart in the same way Hermione and Annabeth are. They do not see the world in the same way if that makes any sense.

Also, another note I am all about Imaan Hammam as Hermione.

Sorry for not updating in such a long time! I sort of snapped back to it and realized how long it had been and spit out this chapter for y'all! In my defense, February through June was pretty rough for me :-/ but I'm feeling a bit better now!

Special s/o to the person who told me they shipped George and Lou!


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